Most of us know the shortcuts and back ways to avoid neighborhood traffic that might make us, late but what happens when the traffic is so bad you can’t leave your driveway?
Neighbors on Roselawn Blvd. say the line of cars to drop kids off at L.J. Alleman Middle School is making this the case for them.
“It’s at least an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoons,” says one neighbor, adding she’s been trapped in her driveway on many occasions.
“You have to wait 15minutes to get out of your driveway because your driveway was blocked, and the line’s not moving,” says Kackie Lerille, who also lives on Roselawn.
The line stretches from the school to Johnston Street with about a mile of homes and driveways in between. Parents are reminded in newsletters and the school’s handbook to respect the neighborhood and the driveways, but neighbors say that hasn’t helped, and they’re fed up.
“There are people that live here. The lane that they’re parking in is not a ‘drop-your-kid-off’ lane; it’s a walking lane and a biking lane,” says Lerille. Now, she’s taking matters into her own hands.
“Last year, I made signs, and they really work well, and so one of my neighbors said, ‘Do you have a sign?’ and another neighbor said, ‘Do you have signs?’ And, I think there’s about fifteen signs out there now,” says Lerille.
She and her neighbors say with the dawn of a new year, they’re already seeing a change, and they hope that will last through May and beyond.
“People stop, and they’re more aware that it is a driveway, that there are people living there,” says Lerille.
“Maybe it’s starting to catch on. Let’s hope so,” says another neighbor.
