Since last Spring, there has been much debate around campus about what the “black-ropes” are on Academy Road. There have been rumors that the ropes are speed trackers put in place to intimidate students from speeding on Academy Road. There has also been thought that the ropes are there because of Academy Wood’s residents claiming too much traffic is coming in and out of Lake Forest Academy. However, neither rumors prove to be true. The “black-ropes” seen on Academy Road are simply traffic counters that record how many cars come in and out of LFA.

“We are in the process of getting a master plan for LFA approved. As part of that, we want to show the city of Lake Forest what the traffic flow is. We don’t want them thinking or somebody else thinking that there are massive amounts of cars coming through LFA,” Chief Financial Officer of LFA, Mike Reidy, stated about the traffic counters on Academy Road.

According to Reidy, LFA is in the process of getting whats called a “master plan” approved by the city of Lake Forest and all its departments such as the police and fire departments. Reidy explained that a master plan usually happens every ten years and explains to the city the school’s plans for new buildings, turf fields, and new additions to the campus. The plan is necessary so that the city’s various departments of service can come over to LFA and scope out the future buildings and additions and make sure that everything is safe so that the building of new structures doesn’t get too far along in the process without making sure everything is set.

Part of this plan includes providing traffic data to the city to show them all the data they wish to see in order to approve the master plan. The traffic counters are strategically placed on Academy Road in that one is placed right before the circle and the other farther down the road toward the highway. This is so the city of Lake Forest can see how many cars come into the general area and how many actually go onto the main campus near the circle. With these traffic counters, once LFA hands over the data, the city of Lake Forest can see exactly how many cars enter during one day, during one hour, during one minute, during one month, or even over the whole year if they wish to.

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Uploaded by abc def on 2016-10-04.

The traffic counters are merely just providers of traffic information that is planned to go to the City of Lake Forest so that more exciting things can be added to LFA. Therefore, all students should stop maneuvering their cars around the traffic counters because they think it is the Academy Woods people complaining that too many cars are coming in and out of LFA. As this is only providing false data to LFA and could potentially mess up the master plan that holds bigger and better things to come for LFA.