Construction near high school disrupts morning commutes

By Autumn Johansson,
Bluedevilhub.com Staff–

Students, parents and teachers alike have found their daily commutes impaired by construction this fall on Covell, 8th Street and Lake Boulevard.

Students are confused as to why the City of Davis didn’t start the project in the beginning of summer when UC Davis students were gone and school wasn’t in session, and why the city chose to do everything at once.

Junior Cara Satre says her drive to school from Wildhorse used to take five to 10 minutes, but now takes 20.

“I’ve started to have to take more back roads, but sometimes those have even more traffic,” she said. “I’ve definitely been late a lot more because of the traffic.”

A large portion of Davis High’s student body travels from Wildhorse, South Davis, El Macero and West Davis, and are affected by the construction.

Carmen Schnathorst, who works in the attendance office, says that there has been a lot more tardiness this year.

“The first time [the traffic] was really bad, we tried to get the late students cleared. After that, we told them it’s up to you and your teacher,” she said.

Spanish teacher Ben Salcedo has a policy that if he’s late then his students aren’t. “This traffic is ridiculous,” he said.

The traffic is not just a hassle and a frustration; some students say it is starting to get dangerous.

“Two cars in front of me did a u-turn over the center divider,” said junior Darby Maguire, adding that she was stopped at the bottom of the overpass due to major traffic on Covell recently and plans on taking a separate route in the future.

Senior Ryan Kriedler took to Twitter to voice his frustration: “But why would you choose to repave every street in Davis at the same time?”