By Meredith Gilley

If you were one of the many who made the drive down Rogers Road on weekday mornings when Heritage Elementary and Middle schools tracked in for the new school year, you were most likely stuck in a bottleneck around 7:45 a.m. mark or hopelessly caught in the car pool traffic at around 2:30 p.m.

You and your child(ren) may well have learned some new forms of sign language as parents and non-car poolers alike tried to find ways to vent their frustration at the long, unmoving line. The fear really set in when it was time for the high school to start, which would bring even more cars to this already congested and cantankerous situation.

Fast-forward a few weeks and there has been a significant change in the way the traffic is flowing through the area – especially in the afternoon. This is mainly due to the changes made during a meeting that consisted of representatives from the Town of Wake Forest, The Wake Forest Police Department, Wake County Public Schools Facilities Department, Wake County Public Schools Transportation Department, the State Department of Transportation, Wake County Public Schools Administration and Wake County Public Schools Security, and the principals from both schools.

The outcome of the meeting brought about new procedures for car pools, which were sent home to parents on August 6. The letter from George Risinger to parents of Heritage Elementary and Dhedra Lassiter to Heritage Middle school parent asked drivers to follow the following procedures:

1. Parents should not turn left onto the access road to the schools from the light at Rogers Road. Instead, parents should use the much-longer right turn lane into the schools from Rogers Road. Only buses, which are on a tight schedule, and parents picking up their children from school early may turn left at the light on Rogers Road to gain access to the schools.

2. Elementary school parents should proceed to the end of the sidewalk where they normally load their child. Drivers will be asked to also form a second lane beside the regular lane that is next to the curb. When students are dismissed, cars next to the curb will load first. The cars in the lane away from the curb will load next. Once this first double lane of cars is dismissed, there will be a single lane of cars.

3. Parents of middle schoolers were asked to wait until 3:15 to 3:20 p.m. to start their line up for car pool, to reduce the number of parents having to go around the middle school car pool lane into the outgoing turn lane.

Though this is not a permanent solution, Risinger has “found it to be successful so far” and says that the results right now have improved both the safety and back up on Rogers Road.

“I have received several e-mails saying the wait time and traffic is much better,” Risinger said. “Our bigger combination of classes, resulting in more students and parents, is returning October 4th. We’ll hope that the improvements continue then as well.”

The wait in the afternoon car pool line has prompted some parents to switch to having their child ride the bus home, while others are forgoing four-wheeled transportation all together by parking across Rogers Road and walking to pick up their child from school.

Now, on a separate but car-pool-related note, what can you do with the 20-30 minutes that you have to wait in the car pool line?

Some will choose to read gossip magazines (it’s OK to admit this), or read a book, catch up on e-mail, work crossword puzzles, make phone calls, occupy the toddlers being held hostage in line with you, plan the week, etc., but here are a few things you can do that you may not have thought of:

1. Fold laundry. – This one is for you minivan moms (as it may not be space-effective in a sedan). Have a load of laundry that needs to be folded? Hop in the backseat and give it a go. That will be one less thing on your to-do list when you get home.

2. Clean your car. – Take a few moments to clean out your car; toss out old papers, petrified gummi-bears, and the “now-toxic I don’t know what that is but it’s gross” items from the car (in a garbage bag of course – don’t toss it out the door). Spot clean any stains and wipe down the interior. You’ll feel more organized and your other half will be impressed, too.

3. Learn a new hobby. – Try knitting, crochet, drawing – you may want to skip oil painting as it may be hard to get the easel set up and taken down once the line starts to move. Seriously though, you can learn a lot in these 20-30 minutes.

4. Pluck your eyebrows. – The natural light helps you see those “hard-to-see-ums.” If your eyebrows are in tip top form already, then paint your nails, or even your toe-nails.

5. Start a bucket list. – Take this time to write down the things you have always wanted to do in your life. Now, take the time you are in the car pool line to figure out ways to make them happen.

As you can see, there are many things that you can do in your spare time while waiting on the kiddos to get out of school – from those small guilty pleasures, to planning out some of the great adventure yet to come. Though the car pool situation at Heritage Elementary and Middle schools is unique, everyone has had moments of sitting in car pool where they wish they could be just about anywhere else. So take a few minutes and a few deep breaths and know that you too will eventually get where you are going.

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