LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Chenoweth Plaza storeowners and employees said the carpool line traffic on Brownsboro Road is impacting their customers' ability to access their storefronts and arrive at appointments on time.
"I purposely left my home, which is literally across the street, 20 minutes early, anticipating the traffic," said Amy Fowler, a longtime customer of Wildflower Salon and resident of St. Matthews.
Though dismissal for Chenoweth Elementary School students is at 4:20 p.m., cars line Brownsboro Road far before the bell rings.
"On top of the rush hour traffic, you also have the school traffic," said Yasmeen Imam, a stylist at Wildflower Salon. "It's just kind of a combination of the two that ends up creating a really good backup."
Wildflower Salon is one of the dozen businesses in Chenoweth Plaza, the small shopping center next to Chenoweth Elementary.
Since Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) cut busing to thousands of students in its new transportation plan, the number of car riders has increased, according to JCPS, which has jammed surrounding streets around pick up and drop off times at some schools.
Imam said this year's first week of school traffic is the worst she's seen.
"With the school bus situation last year, that was on thing," Imam said. "But this is just a different version of that."
The Wildflower Salon posted a notice on social media that warns clients with appointments in the morning and late afternoon to leave ample driving time.
Another Chenoweth Plaza employee said despite the traffic on Brownsboro Road and Chenoweth Lane, the traffic is not as bad as last year because of the freshly painted roads.
Others said that in seven years of working in Chenoweth Plaza, this is the worst congestion they've seen. Another said customers are arriving late to appointments because of the traffic jams.
"You've got standstill traffic from both directions," Imam said.
A JCPS spokesperson confirmed the carpool lines were cleared just a half an hour later, at 4:50 p.m. and it cleared around 5:05 p.m. on Wednesday.
"Maybe today is a calmer day, but for example yesterday, there was just so many people, it was just really bad traffic," said Talia Takruri, a student at Chenoweth Elementary.
She said school pick up is a waiting game.
“We had to wait like 20 minutes at least for the traffic to stop," she said.
JCPS claimed that in addition to more car riders because of the new transportation plan, the school has seen increased enrollment of 200 students over the past three years.
They asked parents to be patient as problems are ironed out in the first few weeks.
“I’m concerned for people who have to sit in this traffic everyday," Fowler said.
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