Monte Vista’s new parking lot is now in working order, ready to serve students and faculty for the 2014-2015 school year. Most, however, have mixed feelings about its effectiveness and practicality.

The $1.1 million project was in the making for over five years and was funded by the district in the deferred maintenance and ending balance (money left over at the end of the year) accounts. It was intended to make entering and exiting a more seamless and productive process, and it has recently been outfitted with many new features including medians, detailed lane markings, and a new exit.

The designs came from many careful decisions and a lot of hard work.  The district and the Town of Danville came together and talked about what was needed.  Cameras and personal observation were used to collect information and data about the old parking lot and what would need to be improved.  This was then turned over to designers and traffic engineers to pick the perfect layout and keep it within the budget.

The biggest concern, according to assistant principal Mr. Powell, was the traffic congestion on Stone Valley Road heading west towards Green Valley and Diablo Road in the direction of Diablo Vista.  The addition of a new right-turn-only lane was added specifically for this purpose.

Although, the new parking lot is not all it is made out to be according to some students.

Junior Brooklyn McNeil believes that while the new lot is pretty, these features make the process a lot less efficient. She thinks the dirt filling the medians and the large amount of sidewalks make navigating through the lot more difficult and annoying.

“[I’m] not a fan,” McNeil said.

The new feature that seems to be rendered inefficient by many students is the roundabout, even though it was supposed to be the most effective feature. Claire Fieldman, senior, has experienced the new system.

“The roundabout makes it so much harder to get out,” Fieldman said.

Many students also complain about the budget.  They claim the money spent on the parking lot should have been put into something ‘more useful’ such as textbooks. However, Mr. Powell clarified that the money for these two different projects, comes from different funds.

“ [The money for maintenance] is not related to curriculum, it is used for facilities and maintenance on campus,” Mr. Powell said.  “You can’t use facility money to buy educational supplies just as you can’t use ASB leadership money to bolt something to the gym.”

While more safety measures have been put into place such as crosswalks and forced left turns, many students are still concerned about traffic congestion.

The feedback, however, has not showed complete opposition. Mr. Powell believes the new lot has had a positive impact.

“It’s been beneficial to students and parent community,” Mr. Powell said.  “The new drop off area is providing better traffic flow and a safer route for students to cross in the parking lot. The amount of time it takes for people for the parking lot to clear has decreased from about twenty five minutes to fifteen.”

The parking lot was a needed project at our school according to Mr. Powell and others.

“When you look at schools, you look at what is in need, and our parking lot was the worst out of the 35 schools in the district,” he said.