It's back to school this week for many Kansas students. In Maize, school officials aren't only concerned about starting a new year, but also how kids are getting to school. For the past week, the district's been warning parents and teachers that traffic will be a problem.
“I came way early again, trying to be smart,” said Amy Young, who was waiting to pick up her daughter Monday afternoon.
“I just went through it and it’s pretty bad,” added Erika Beemer, there to pick up her granddaughter.
The school’s spokesperson, Karen McDermott, agrees. “There's days where it can be a little frustrating.”
And those days are back for parents and teachers in Maize.
“All of Maize is full of construction, just as well as the west side of Wichita,” said Officer Anthony Godinez of the Maize Police. He’s in charge of traffic patrols in the city.
It's not the construction itself that’s the problem this time, so much as the exact location.
“We have no northbound traffic on Maize Road, which is one of our main roads in on seven of our ten schools on the Maize campus,” said McDermott.
Maize Middle School, at 45th and Maize Road, will get the worst of it, once all its students are back in class Tuesday morning. Monday only sixth graders were in attendance.
“It's going to be pretty congested and the traffic I'm sure will be really slow,” said Beemer.
“We are just asking that parents take that extra time to watch out for kids that are walking to and from school,” said McDermott.
Added to all the congestion caused by parents coming to drop off and pick up their kids, are the busses. There are dozens of them, and they have to get through the intersection quickly to get over to the high school to pick up the rest of the students they carry.
“I spent 20 minutes at the railroad crossing to let the school busses go through this morning,” said Officer Godinez.
Maize schools sent out an email last week warning parents of what was to come and asking them to leave themselves a little extra time.
“I hope everybody's patient,” said Beemer.
But the congestion might catch commuters without children unaware, which is why Maize Police have been working with the District’s police force to keep all drivers headed the right direction and moving at safe speeds.
“I've stopped several cars today,” said Godinez. Although he admitted Monday, at least, he was being kind and handing out mostly warnings.
“It's just not so fun. I wish they would get this finished,” said Young.
That’s a wish that probably won't be granted for at least another 18 months or so.
Drivers should also be aware of another hazard. Because of the construction the flashing lights on the school zone signs are out. But the signs do say ‘while children are present’, which means the lower speed limit is still in effect.
The district is reminding drivers to be aware of the following construction projects around the city.
- Maize Road remains closed to all northbound traffic from 45th Street North to 53rd Street North.
- Maize Road from 53rd Street North to K-96 is now closed to southbound traffic, but open to northbound traffic.
- 53rd Street will be closed to westbound traffic west of the corner of 53rd and Maize Road for the next 2 to 3 weeks. After that it will then close to east bound traffic for 2 to 3 weeks.
