The construction on Mount Vernon has become a huge inconvenience for all 16,000 people who work or go to school at Bakersfield College.
It’s absurd for there to be such major construction done on the main street people use to get to school, while school is in session. Not only is it not smart, but the public’s safety is at stake. The city should have paid more attention to the fact that over a thousand students use that road every day.
Sure the administration had no say in the construction dates, but the timing was horrible.
Driving to school has been a hassle every day since early October when construction was under way at Mount Vernon and Columbus. But who would have known the chaos would move north, right on to the college’s turf?
The traffic was bad enough before the construction started and the fact of that matter is that people are easily irritated; Add heavy traffic, the fact that you’re running late, and the fact that there are no parking spots where you normally park, and it pretty much equals road rage. Disaster.
Some students have resorted to driving aggressively to get out of parking lots, nearly hitting oncoming traffic.
The traffic delays and the blockage of certain parking areas are currently constantly changing. Can you go this way, or do you have to go around? The school should put the huge red scrolling marquee at the corner of Mount Vernon and University to use and let northbound traffic know what lanes and parking lot entrances are open that particular day.
The students who park across the street from BC near Kern Schools Federal Credit Union walk through dirt and heavy one-way traffic right in front of huge tractors throwing rubble into the air, just to get to class.
This construction is inconvenient for everyone, but there’s nothing anyone can do about it.
The road construction should be completed by Nov. 30, so students only have a few more weeks of insanity ahead of them, but if you can think, plan and make good choices, everyone will get through this madness alive and well.