During the summer Cicero has put their people to work fixing up and even repaving our streets.

It’s not just Cicero streets in Riverside, Berwyn, and central Stickney that have all started getting their roads repaired and repaved. This project has made a huge improvement in some of our roads, but it has not been as easy for the drivers as it seems. With all the road work going on some streets have been closed off or cut short. This causes a lot of problems with drivers trying to get home or work because they end up getting stuck in a traffic jam. Along with road work traffic has really picked up since the start of school.

“I would love to avoid the Austin bridge on my way to work but I can’t. There’s always something going on there that causes traffic. Either people think it’s two lanes that cause confusion, a semi-truck getting stuck there, or flooding. It gets really annoying, especially on the way home,” civics teacher Ms. Lopez said.

There’s always a big choke spot in traffic and the road work has not helped.

“I have tried to avoid that area, but it seems like alternative routes have increased levels of traffic from other drivers trying to also avoid the construction area. It seems like it just cannot be avoided,” Auto mechanics teacher  Mr. Yunker says, talking about the road construction that he experiences while dropping off his son.

While trying to find alternative routes due to road work it seems like just more and more choke spots get created.

“The bridge on Central Ave has been under construction for months now and has always had traffic that adds around 15 minutes to my trip. Even going down Cicero causes problems when I try to escape the traffic from the road work,” Fabian Carino, a student here at Morton said.

It seems like the traffic last forever due to road work and leaves us wondering when the road work will stop.  Some staff think that the traffic problems will continue regardless.

“Traffic routinely increases when school is in session.  Just look at the number of parents who drop and pick up their kids from school.  If students want to save their family the stress or gas money, they might ask to be dropped off or picked up a couple blocks away — out of the traffic pattern.  It saves time, and a little exercise doesn’t hur anyone,” English teacher Mr. Kent Frankfother said.