Throughout Melissa, traffic has increased in vast amounts up and down the highway. Students arrive at school right as the bell rings due to heavy construction and broken stop lights. Not only is this a problem for younger students who have to rely on their parents getting them out the door, but they also have to face school policies if they are late.

“I work at Sonic in Melissa and I am sometimes late to work because the stoplight takes a while,” junior Joplin Blackburn said, “and that combined with the fact that traffic leading to the light is awful–it’s just a big mess.”

If students are late arriving to school, they are considered tardy, which could result in a lunch detention. This creates more work for the staff to write students up, and it causes more disruptions to the learning process.

“Last year it was bad,” receptionist Venus Malone said. “There were students coming in late because the stop light sensor wouldn’t detect your car if you did not hit a certain spot on the road, so most of the time the light just would not turn at all.”

Although the traffic was backed up most of the time throughout last year, staff tells us that finally, this issue has been resolved.

“The stoplights are fixed now, and students have stopped showing up late,” Malone said.

A new light was added to Milrany Lane, which has greatly improved the traffic issue.