By Grace Beedles

       With the 2016 Republican National convention occurring in Cleveland, the downtown area is gearing up for all the chaos and traffic through new construction projects. This past year, everyone has been impacted by infrastructure undertakings. Whether you have to leave a few minutes earlier to avoid traffic or go an alternate route to school, these operations have definitely shifted the flow of traffic in Cleveland. Construction projects allow for Cleveland to host the influx of people coming during the summer. I’m really excited to witness so many people here, but unhappy about the construction suffocating the streets.

       In my own neighborhood, the Cuyahoga County Airport is creating a brand-new runway for powerful jets, maybe even Donald Trump’s. On lengthy Richmond Road which divides the airport and my development, immense steel plates have been set up to protect the concrete from being demolished by the huge bulldozers moving across. I despise sitting in the car for an additional 5 -10 minutes just to wait for those enormous machines to get across the walkway. Those extra 5 minutes add more than you think to my short and sweet and to the point commute to HB. What used to be a 20-minute ride, now becomes a 30-minute drive. I like to get to school at certain time, which I’m unable to do with this break only 5 minutes in the trip.

       I understand you need to move rubble back and forth, but do you have to perform the task in the morning? The journey can’t wait until afternoon when traffic is as light as a feather and not heavy with cars as my book bag is with books? No one wants a backup all the way to Kansas. Typically, you can cruise down the street with ease not having to worry about how long bulldozer take to stroll across the walkway and flaunt that beautiful scooper. Not only is traffic outrageous, but it seems the workers are in an endless cycle of work, eat, move dirt, repeat. From sunrise to sundown, you hear the swish of uprooted grass and click of machines. You stay awake at night counting the how many thuds the steel plates and number of seconds the workers have the drills on. While Cleveland has a great opportunity to draw in tourists and strengthen its economy through the RNC, people in the city currently unfortunately must deal with all of preparations that come with it.