Stay in your lane: Archer students navigate hallway traffic

By Molly Goldberg, Culture Editor|February 13, 2018

Photo credit: Molly Goldberg

Congestion on the staircase in the East Wing before first period. The traffic has posed inconveniences in terms of getting to class on time, according to students.

A crowd of Archer girls hurry towards the Classroom Village like the rush hour traffic on the neighboring 405 freeway. Girls jostle one another as they speed to class during the five-minute passing period, prompting faculty to remind everyone to stay in their lane.

Until Archer Forward construction concludes in the spring of 2019, students will be learning in the remaining parts of the historic building and the newly built Classroom Village. Students have English, history, math, dance, fitness and some science classes in the village, while the rest of the science classes, art and language classes remain in the historic building.

According to students, the construction has caused many inconveniences, but perhaps the biggest one has been traffic in the language hallway.

“It’s been a little bit difficult, and I have had a lot of trouble getting to classes on time. The hall is really congested,” Stella Gregg ‘20 said.“I almost feel like it adds stress to my day because I have to worry about getting to places on time, and I’ve noticed that it doesn’t allow me to enter the classroom in the most positive way.”

Since there is only one stairwell for all students to get from the historic building to the classroom village, the language hallway —previously referred to as the English hallway — has been overcrowded. The rest of the staircases were knocked down along with the north wing of the school, so the only two remaining stairwells are in the far east and west wings of the school. Because students have most of their classes in the village and the east wing, the congestion is mostly on the east side of the school. 

Class meetings were held to discuss what could be done about the traffic in the halls. The administration has recently made efforts to reduce the congestion in the hallways by taping down masking tape on the stairwell that indicates two-way traffic. The people going down the stairs are encouraged to stay to the right in a single-file line, while the people going up the stairs stay in a single-file line on the other side of the tape. Additionally, the seniors are now permitted to take the elevators.

“I think the aisles on the stairway was definitely helpful,” Gregg said. “But I think the biggest issue is passing periods because they are so short. Increasing the length of the passing periods would maybe be more helpful.”

According to Dean of Students Jenn Babin, the administration is continuing to work on how to alleviate the situation. However, until more ideas on how to reduce the traffic are executed, teachers and students are advised to follow the rules that have already been laid down in order to ensure that everyone can get to both their classes in the Village and in the historic building on time.

“I get a little bit frustrated because we are already more than halfway through our careers here at Archer,” Gregg said. “However, I think the end product of this construction will be worth the frustration of the traffic and the trailers.”