For many students at Baker University, it’s a short walk from their rooms to classes or other activities they attend on a daily basis.

However, a section of the Baker community does not live close to campus, and instead commutes to campus.

For this group, the recent road construction on U.S. 59 and U.S. 56 highways has made this commute more difficult, and for some, more timely.

Some students already have around a 30-minute drive from their homes to campus, but the one-lane roads, and other restrictions due to the construction, have extended these travel times for some.

Some students are spending more time sitting in their cars and less time at home or on campus.

Along with commuting students, others travel away from Baldwin City, to surrounding cities such as Lawrence and Kansas City, for work and recreation, making these highways a popular commodity.

Because the highways, especially U.S. 59 from the Baldwin City Junction to Lawrence, can receive a great deal of traffic, it is important for the roads to be safe and up-to-date.

However, convenience should also be taken into consideration.

The construction and additions to U.S. 59 will not be completed until late 2012, so no matter when the construction started, it would affect Baker students driving to and from Lawrence.

The repaving of U.S. 56, though, could have been done over the summer when the majority of students weren’t on campus.

Not only did the repavement fill Baldwin City with the rich smell of burnt rubber last week, the process cut the highway down to one lane.

Yes, Baldwin City community members commute all year long, so it would have affected them no matter when the repavement would have happened, but the delays and lines wouldn’t have been as long over the summer

if the majority of Baker students were taken out of the equation.

The expansion is not a surprise, as it has been in the process since 2007.

Students will have to manage through the delays until the construction is finished.

At the same time, since the county has known about the construction for several years, the work done to U.S. 56 could have been done before the U.S. 59 work became so far along in the construction process.

Students are not going to stop making trips to neighboring cities while the construction finishes, so the delays will have to be expected and worked around.

But next time, someone should consider the timing and implications of the roadwork to prevent the highways around a city, such as Baldwin City, to be engulfed in orange traffic signs.