The City of Phoenix has begun construction on Happy Valley Road, and OHS is adapting to its subsequent changes. With lane closures, high traffic levels, and short green lights, students and staff are navigating the turbulence of Happy Valley’s development.
The roadwork, which started in early October, ranges from 35th Avenue to 67th Avenue, a four-mile stretch that is crucial for students travelling both to and from OHS who live in neighborhoods on either side of Happy Valley. The construction aims to decrease congestion and encourage drivers to obey the speed limit consistently on the roads near OHS, a big issue for students who drive.
“[Traffic is] usually pretty bad,” said Hailey Goss, senior. “No one’s going the speed limit, everyone’s under.”
Previously, if a student got to school relatively early in the morning – roughly around 7 AM for OHS students – they would face minor traffic on the drive to campus. However, now that construction has closed multiple lanes on Happy Valley, more delays are happening on the road every day.
“In the mornings, [traffic] gets really backed up if you don’t leave early,” said Wyatt Walker, sophomore.
With long waits and lane closures, students have to get up and get ready earlier in the morning just to arrive on time.
“[Now] I have to leave my house at 6:30 [am] to get to school on time [instead of] 6:50 last year,” Goss said.
The backups and lane closures are not the only issues, though; traffic lights at 39th Ave. are not timed well, and now, their issues are even more prominent with the ongoing construction.
“The left turn arrow [is] not long enough and it always has a super long line to turn,” Walker said. “[Sometimes, traffic] gets backed up pretty close to the other light [at 43rd Avenue].”
The culmination of these issues could be problematic for students, especially if they do not plan accordingly for the delays.
“I do think more students are going to be late to school because [they’re not] going to take the traffic into consideration and leave earlier,” said Erica Calderon, health teacher at OHS.
If students do plan ahead, then they will be ready to resolve the problems before they can even occur.
“[To be on time, students should] either cut through the neighborhoods or just leave earlier,” Goss said.
But, there are not many workarounds for students who live in neighborhoods that require driving on Happy Valley, since they can only access OHS through the intersections at 35th, 39th, and 43rd Avenues. Along with this, all drivers who are going to a variety of different places will all be merged into one lane. Now, students will have to deal with the madness of delays.
“[Traffic is] going to be really bad because there’s people trying to go straight on Happy Valley… and then there’s going to be everyone [turning] left to get to school,” Walker said.
Problems will not only be contained to the traffic lights, though; when the lanes converge into one, people might not be prepared, leading to disorder between drivers.
“With more chaos on the road, more people will [try] to cut over… and it’s going to create [even] more chaos in traffic,” Walker said.
Nevertheless, leaving early for school is the best thing that OHS students can do so as to prevent a tardy, even in the midst of the roadwork.
“I think the only way to avoid [being late] is just leaving earlier,” Goss said.
