ARLINGTON — Except for Smokey Point, traffic jams are still relatively new in Arlington.
So the first day of classes at the new Arlington High School was a rude introduction for drivers trying to head south from town on Highway 9. Cars backed up more than two miles waiting to turn left onto Crown Ridge Boulevard.
Since then, revisions in the traffic signal have helped. But some residents in the Crown Ridge neighborhood still complain about the disruptions the new school has caused.
Debbi Rutledge, 50, lives about 10 houses from the new school. She moved into the neighborhood in June 2000 but did not hear about plans to build the school until two months later.
Rutledge said the influx of students affected her neighborhood.
"They go to our parks, and they smoke," Rutledge said. "Some make U-turns in our driveways. The traffic is just horrifying."
Rutledge also said some students use her street for spillover parking, up to 12 cars in her block at times.
The main conflict is that Crown Ridge Boulevard is the only access for the high school’s approximately 1,500 students and the neighborhood, which has more than 200 homes. And a smaller development that is being planned on an adjacent property would bring even more cars.
Rutledge accompanied another neighbor, Irene Silva, to a recent City Council meeting to voice their complaints.
Officials at the school district and the city say the problems have been greatly reduced.
The biggest fix was changing the left-turn light on southbound Highway 9. Arlington Police Chief John Gray said the long backups were caused by that left-turn light, which was only allowing three cars through before turning red.
Signal operators from the state Department of Transportation changed the light to allow 11 cars to turn.
Gray said the signal was adjusted again to give more green-light time for Crown Ridge residents to get out.
City engineer Paul Richart said this kind of trial and error is normal with a new light.
35-minute wait cut
"I suspect we’ll tweak with it, then watch it for a few days, then tweak some more," Richart said.
Getting out of school was also a snarl, but Assistant Superintendent Warren Hopkins said the wait has been cut from 35 minutes to 20.
"That’s almost the same amount of time it took at the old school, so we can live with that," Hopkins said.
Relief on the way
Neighbors also were alarmed and angry about the deluge of traffic and trash that accompanied the dedication of the new football stadium.
Hopkins said those problems should improve in the future. He said about 100 parking spots are occupied by construction trailers and equipment for crews still putting finishing touches on the school. And another 300 spaces will be available on a practice field once the grass develops enough roots to withstand cars.
One neighbor, Denny Shannon, 56, welcomed that news.
"I’m for the school. It’s helped my property values. But I don’t want the school to keep appeasing us until we get used to people coming through our areas," Shannon said.
Another neighbor, Matt Sauer, 29, said he appreciated the improvements. But he and other neighbors worried about being unable to get out during an emergency.
"The answer is you’ve got to have some other way of getting into the school," Sauer said. "You can’t be sending all this traffic through one entrance."
Reporter Scott Morris:
