The sound of students talking on the bus was quickly drowned out by the piercing sound of a jackhammer once the bus entered the construction zone. The bright orange cones protruding from the street wisped by the windows as the bus cruised by mountains of dirt and massive bulldozers. This has been the scene for many Stillwater bus drivers as of late.

Construction on Highway 36 for the new St. Croix bridge crossing is impacting the routes of many buses. According to the Minnesota Department of Transportation, construction is scheduled to be complete by fall of 2014.

“My bus comes quite a bit earlier than it used to,” said sophomore Cooper Hanson.

Hanson is one of many students who now must wake up earlier in order to catch their bus since they now come earlier to accommodate for traffic congestion.

He said that this has made it “hard on some of the students…I know some people that have to get up at like 5:45 every morning which is pretty tough on them.”

Hanson thinks that these short term problems are outweighed by the long term benefits that he believes the bridge will bring regarding student transportation.

“I think it’s going to be good when the bridge is up,” Hanson commented. “There’s not going to be as much congestion in one specific area [since there will be] two different routes that people can take.”

The earlier pick up times are a result of the rerouting of buses away from the construction zone on Highway 36.

“It is kind of a bother,” said bus driver Adan Vasquez.

The rerouting of buses has proven to be an inconvenience among Vasquez and other bus drivers.

“The biggest [effect on driving] for everybody would be the congestions from the traffic” Vasquez said. “Sometimes we [are] late to where we’re going because of the construction.”

The Operations/Transportation Department of the school district has made it a priority to respond to the construction.

“We have been attending the weekly project update meetings and adjusting routes accordingly,” said Director of Operations Dennis Bloom.

The process of rerouting the buses has been a very lengthy process for the department.

“Rerouting takes some time,” said Bloom. “We have to change the route, notify drivers, notify parents and notify schools.”

This can also have an effect on people outside of school.

“Anytime changes happen, people have to make adjustments to their schedules and that is not always easy,” Bloom explained.

So for the time being, it looks like Stillwater bus goers will have to get used to the sight of bright orange cones and the smell of freshly paved blacktop.