Eagle Lights: The New Solution to Hallway Traffic Coming This Summer
Enloe Board has announced and given details about their new construction project, “Eagle Lights” which aims to implement hallway lights to alleviate the problems of congested hallways around the school. They plan to initially place lights in short-circuited hallways and expand later in the year. The construction is planned to take place in the summer of 2024.
There is one issue at Enloe that has been a major problem around the school since the beginning of time. It relates to the troubles with the movement of people in, out, and around the school, making it to their classes on time smoothly and quickly. No, I’m not talking about the carpool lane, but something much more dangerous: the hallways. Indeed, the foot traffic and difficulties in the trans-hallway movement have always been the talk of the town among the students. “There was a fight in the atrium and I was late to class” or “the main stairwell is never a good idea” can be heard on the daily. The problem has become so big that students have started using various methods to overcome their travel challenges in school every day. The push-and-shove strategy is a common solution, however, students not blessed with strength and height often resort to using the 600s or 700s stairwell as an alternative to the busy, crowded atrium stairwell. Both of these strategies, however, are not favorable. The push-and-shove technique, while effective, leaves upset peers and injured walkers. Using the alternative stairwells may be less busy than the overflowing atrium, but by no means does it embody the SOARing eagle as we should all aspire to be.
The problem isn’t going unnoticed by authorities either. Enloe administrator Iris Malloy “I.M.” Uhlite notes, “I see messy and inefficient foot traffic in areas like the atrium, the 1200s and 1300s hallways every day and it’s definitely an issue here at Enloe.” Walk rage, deriving its name from road rage, is the new term formed by the Enloe community to describe irritated hall travelers. An Enloe teacher who has chosen to remain anonymous, says that they have witnessed multiple fights break out due to walk rage. Student complaints have also been rising regarding hallway traffic. Enloe Junior Greene Leight voices his complaints regarding Enloe hallway congestion, “I swear going to the 1400’s hallway from the atrium is harder than merging on I-40” comments Leight, “And waiting for a stream of opposing traffic students is worse than waiting at the New Bern-Clarendon Crescent intersection light.”
To combat this issue, Enloe administrators and the school board have decided to construct Enloe traffic hallway lights, dubbing the project “Eagle Lights”. “We’ve commissioned Mr. Turner Honor and his construction team to take the lead on this project” Uhlite commented on the Loedown yesterday morning, “We have high hopes that this project will be an electrifying success.” Later in the program, Loedown news staff interviewed Mr. Honor regarding the thinking process and arrangement of the project’s construction. Honor says he aims to make all students feel like their walks to class are smooth and free of walk rage. “It should be like driving on the freeway,” commented Honor, “well, minus the 70 miles per hour driving speeds.”
Traffic lights will first be constructed in the atrium, 1300, and 1400 hallways, which Uhlite reasons that these areas are the most congested areas she has observed around the campus. In addition to these new lights, Enloe also plans to employ staff previously assigned to tardy sweeps to now double up as WALKs (Working All-student Lane traffic Koordinator), who will help monitor foot traffic and sweep students being late to their classes. “We hope that these changes will help alleviate some frustrations in the hallways, and we also hope that this project is a success so that we’ll be able to eventually expand this to the entire school,” Uhlite says. “We are always open to suggestions and welcome feedback regarding the lights, whether it be positive or negative.”
