Even though construction to make the frontage road in front of the school into an extension of 360 for the SH South Project officially began in October, traffic in the area has increased within the last month due to the closures of Broad and Lynn Creek Parkway.

“The traffic tie-up now is going to relieve the massive congestion that’s been present for the past several years going up and down (SH) 360,” history teacher Stephanie Garrett said. “It takes forever just to get through the light at Sublett.”

Closures from the construction, that will include a 9.7 mile corridor planned to stretch from Green Oaks Boulevard to US 287, have forced drivers to find different routes.

“Instead of turning left on Ragland and continuing on the highway like I normally do, I have to drive further to make a U-turn because the road is closed off,” senior Madison Prestridge said.

The $330 million project is being funded by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), North Texas Tollway Authority (NTTA), the North Central Texas Council of Governments and local cities and counties.

“(The toll way) won’t be very useful for me because I just travel to school,” sophomore Alyssa Alcala said. “I’m just going to stay on the service roads.”

Students have had to alter their routes.

“I live by Target and the traffic is so much worse now,” sophomore Ashley Ho said. “We have to use new detours for U-turns. The problem then is that people feel the need to stop and there isn’t a stop sign there.”

Construction is scheduled to be complete in late 2017.

“I’m going to college in Idaho, so it won’t affect me after August,” Prestridge said. “I’ll have to put up with it now.”

The highway will provide access to DFW Airport and the central business districts of the region for drivers in Tarrant, Ellis and Johnson counties.

“Everything was running completely fine prior to all of this,” Alcala said. “Now there’s so much chaos and traffic. It’s really inconvenient because I have to pass my house and it is even a further (route) to get home.”

Garrett said the toll way would be convenient for her.

“It will be worth spending an extra 50 cents, or whatever it will cost, to go from here up to I-20 and across instead of having to stop at all of the lights,” she said.

By 2030, an estimated 174,000 drivers each day are expected to travel the 9.7-mile corridor, according to mansfieldcitizenonline.

“This will be great for people traveling from Midlothian and other areas south to allow them to get to places like Six Flags or the Cowboys Stadium,” Garrett said. “When this is all over, it will just be a great benefit for the Arlington and Mansfield areas.”

After the woods were cleared in order to construct the tollway, rumors began circulating that the school name would be changing.

“I have a good idea where the rumor started and who possibly started it,” Instructional Specialist Renee Cox said. “It was a comment and it was said in front of some students (which) they took seriously.”

Most students assume that the school was named after it’s front view, which is of the woods.

“We always knew that 360 would eventually be complete but the school is not going to be renamed,” Cox said. “It was a funny joke.”

The school was actually named after the view from the library.

Cox said, “The trees near Bowman Branch, which runs beside here, can never be built on so we will always have a view of the timber.”