By: Jennifer Newman, Staff Writer
Sheppard Lane, a road that many students at River Hill rely on for their daily commute, had been closed for construction, causing longer travel times and frustration among students and families.
Construction on Sheppard Lane began on September 4th and ended on September 19th, although the reopening was never officially announced. The roadwork forced students and families to take longer routes, and the official detour rerouted drivers through another roadway, adding roughly 15 minutes to the average morning drive. A detour route was in place, but it added significant time to daily drives, making it harder for students to get to school, extracurriculars and other activities. Although signs warning of the closure were posted weeks in advance, many say they still weren’t prepared for the extent of the disruption.
“I used to get to school in under 10 minutes, but now it takes almost double that,” said senior Samantha Wu. “Even leaving earlier doesn’t guarantee I’ll be on time.”
Students who rely on buses or parent drop-offs also felt the effects. Junior Vivienne Li said the new traffic patterns completely changed her daily routine. “The bus takes way longer to get to my house in the morning now,” Li remarked. “I’ve had to start waking up about 20 minutes earlier, and it’s harder to check in with teachers before class because I get to school later.” Li added that the longer drive times didn’t just affect her mornings, even “getting home takes longer, and it’s harder to run errands or get rides from people. Most of my friends and their parents don’t want to drive that far to drop me off, especially if they don’t live in that direction.”
Many students expressed frustration that the work wasn’t scheduled during the summer, when many people had more flexible schedules. “It would have made way more sense to do this in July or August when people weren’t relying on the road every day,” Li commented. “They gave a decent amount of warning, but I thought it would just be for a day or two, not weeks. No one really knew how long it would last.”
Senior Eri Omitowoju agreed that the signage wasn’t clear enough. “It’s so annoying. They had signs up for weeks, but they never said how long the road would be closed. And then the date on the sign kept changing,” she said. “I actually found a shortcut through Mary’s Land Farm. I wonder if they are confused why so many people drive through [their farm] all of a sudden.”
For many students, the biggest issue was the time lost each day. “Practice ends at 5:30, and I used to be home by 5:35. Now I’m not home until about 5:50,” said Junior Khushi Patel. “Fifteen minutes might not sound like a big deal, but when you’re juggling homework, SAT prep and everything else, that time really matters.”
She also noted the confusion surrounding the closures timeline. “We were told it would take a couple of months, which didn’t sound too bad at first, but living through it is a different story. They didn’t give a clear start date either, so I started taking an alternate route too early.”
“I get that construction needs to happen,” Patel explains, “but better communication would’ve made this whole thing a lot less stressful.”