In the summer of 2015, Blue Valley had its parking lots redone. The renovations made the parking spots larger, as well as adding whole new sections for students to park in.

“The [old] spots were really small and it was hard to pull in” senior Tyler Elmendorf said. “It was simple. They probably needed a new one — it looked bad. It was small, crammed, it couldn’t fit a lot of cars and it was hard to fit into the spots.”

The school added 394 new spots, 1,024 total, as well as widening the pre-existing spots. Only approximately 780 kids drive to school. Also, for the first time in school history, freshmen are allowed to drive to school. However, with more drivers comes more traffic.

“We just ask that people be patient,” said Dennis Randall, BV’s student resource officer.

On a good day in the new parking lot, the lots are cleared between 3:10-3:15, but on a bad day, they may not clear until 3:30, Randall said.

Even though there are more people driving, there are still only three exits for students to enter and leave from. Starting in September, the renovations on 159th Street will begin.
“I feel like it [the new lot] is just as bad [as the old lot] because the traffic flow is very bad,” Elmendorf said.

The students may not like the traffic with more drivers; however, they do believe that the parking lot needed to be redone. With the school’s population reaching an all-time high, more spots will be needed to fit all of the cars.

“I think the new parking lot is great,” said speech and debate coach and teacher Chris Riffer “I think there’s a lot more spaces, it allows the spaces to be wider apart, and it still remains fairly close to the building”