'Seatbelt's Everyone!': It's parking lot chaos!

Students share their thoughts on the highschool parking lot as well as ways to improve it

Micayla Edkin, 9th / April 24th, 2023

The Muscatine High School parking lot is well-known to the entire student body. Almost every student dreads leaving to deal with reckless driving, and slow traffic at the end of the day. When students were asked what words they think best describe the parking lot, the most common answers shared were, “chaotic”, “horrible”, “a mess” and “horrendous”.

Muscatine High School has two parking lots used by students and staff. They are most commonly referred to as Cedar and Bonnie. These names come from the roads that the parking lots are attached to. Bonnie tends to have more traffic as it is favored by many due to its convenience in the mornings for students walking in. Both of the locker rooms are over on that side of the school as well making it even more convenient. Cedar on the other hand has more people and fewer cars as that is where the buses pick people up. Some students pick a parking spot based on where their last class of the day is, so they can leave as fast as possible to attempt to avoid the inevitable traffic. Others go where their first class is so they can get in faster. 

“It’s easier to be over [in Bonnie] for most people because that’s the side they usually walk in every morning. Unless you do band. Then you go in on the [Cedar] side through the band doors,” stated freshman Maya Simpon. 

Because Bonnie has more people and cars, getting out at the end of the day is much more difficult. More cars create longer lines and more impatient people wanting to get home as fast as possible after a long day of school. 

“It’s very common to see someone getting cut off, or even being cut off yourself. People need to just accept that the parking lot is not fast to get out of,” expressed Izzy Sand, MHS senior. 

Contrary to popular belief, Cedar is actually faster to get out of, but people tend to avoid it because the buses at the end of the day create much more pedestrian traffic that makes young drivers more anxious.

“First of all, less people usually park there so there is way less traffic than on Bonnie. Second, there are police officers at the stop sign directing traffic which makes it so much easier,” explained Maya. 

Logistically because of the way in which the bell schedule works, everyone is dismissed at the same time. There will always be a pile of cars mass exiting. That being said, perhaps there are some facility changes that could be made to assist in making it less stressful for everyone. 

MHS junior, Taylor Romer, had a few ideas for changes to make the parking lot not only more organized but safer as well for drivers and people walking. 

“Change the layout, there’s a curve in the Bonnie lot that you can’t see around and it makes it dangerous. Also, there is way too much speeding” she said, “people don’t follow the zipper and ignore the arrows.”

While funding for these changes would be helpful for young drivers, it is a very complex and expensive process that most likely will not happen for a while. So in the meantime, buckle up Muskies!

[me113129@mcsdonline.org]