Arjun Bhamra ‘22 | Maggie Lo ‘23
The construction of a new security post and the addition of a speed bump may be among the reasons why traffic entering Episcopal is increasing, and EA students are unhappy about the delays.
Students are annoyed with the significant amounts of traffic in the morning. Ashley Tang ‘22 says, “I live two minutes away and it takes me 10 minutes to get here, without fail.” Other members of the community, however, have identified ways of avoiding the traffic. Allison Kurz, V Form Dean, notes, “If you don’t want to sit in traffic, you can get here early and sit in no traffic.
Photo courtesy of Mia Garber ‘22
Mark Notaro, EA’s Director of Operations, understands that the traffic in the morning is a large issue and has developed long-term solutions. He explains, “We’re actually in the middle of a master plan process for the whole school, and one of the things that we’ve asked the architectural firm that we’ve engaged with is to look at traffic, traffic flows, and routes in and off-campus.”
He continues, “We’re also looking to see if there’s any way we can tweak the schedule, but that’s a little more complicated because there are three different divisions and crossover teachers. We’re trying to figure out plans that will work immediately, but the master plan is really going to identify things that are much longer-term like altering roadways and things like that.”
The construction of a security post at the main entrance is something that EA has been talking about for the past couple of years, according to Notaro. He says, “We’d like to continue what we did during Covid, which was during the school day we would close the north entrance and have all the visitors come through the main entrance. We would have the security post staffed so there’s someone there to greet admissions families, if there are alumni coming back, or if there are deliveries, and we could tell them where to go because this campus isn’t always very easy to get around if you don’t know it that well.”
Notaro also adds, “The security post is supposed to be done at the beginning of December, but there have been some delays in getting materials.”
The implementation of the speed bump at the main entrance has also resulted in complaints from the student body. Macy Szukics ‘22 shares, “The speed bump is annoying to tons of people. You can’t go more than 5 mph over it without your car going in the air.” Nikhil Walling ‘22 shares a similar view, adding that while “the speed bump accomplishes its job very well, […] it is too aggressive, to the point where it jolts you even if you’re going an appropriate speed.”
On the other hand, Kurz believes that the speed bump promotes a safer construction environment, saying “[The speed bump] is to protect the workers, and it’s really important that we protect them.” Notaro agrees, adding, “As soon as the construction is done, those will be removed. It’s a temporary measure.”