‘Super bad’: Burke County residents fight traffic due to long carpool lines outside school

BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — Video sent to Channel 9 from Burke County shows cars heading the wrong way outside a middle school.

Several parents at Table Rock Middle School have spoken to Channel 9 about the dangerous congestion around the school.

The school district says it reached out to the North Carolina Department of Transportation to do a study on the traffic congestion outside the school where a line of cars stretches more than a half mile down the road on most afternoons.

Parents sent Channel 9 video of cars heading the wrong way along Watermill Glen Alpine Road in Morganton. Even a dump truck driver took a chance trying to avoid the traffic near the middle school.

Channel 9′s Dave Faherty could see the cars lined up outside the school and heard from parents concerned someone might get hurt.

“People aren’t patient. And waiting for parents to go in the school,” said grandmother Jennifer Hoyle. “They’re just passing around the traffic and about hitting parents and children head on.”

“This is really, super bad -- super, super bad,” said mom Betsey Forney. “I’m surprised somebody hasn’t got hurt.”

Burke County Schools says it has gotten complaints about the traffic congestion. It also said bus ridership has dropped in the district. At Table Rock, there are 549 students but only 230 of them ride the bus to and from school each day.

“You can’t get through here. Some of us have to pick our kids up,” said mother Carrie Lynn Vicente. “We don’t have any choice.”

“Maybe have someone direct traffic or something. Do some kind of safety measure,” said mom Sam Raines.

Outside of Table Rock Middle, Faherty saw where the school allows two lanes of traffic to pick up students as people go inside the school, but it’s not enough to prevent backups. The district said it is asking for parents and other drivers to be patient and allow for extra time when traveling near the school.

“There needs to be another way, another access, to kind of reduce the congestion,” said resident Jodie Carswell.

The school district says it reached out to the NCDOT on March 24. School officials said they are waiting on municipal school transportation assistance to address the problem.

(WATCH BELOW: Middle school in Hickory evacuated due to social media threat, message to families says)

Middle school in Hickory evacuated due to social media threat, message to families says

©2022 Cox Media Group