A car turns east onto Mockingbird from Hillcrest. The construction crew opened the road on Nov. 22. (Nick Bakewell)

Students will no longer have to deal with constant stop signs on Beverly Drive. After months of construction, Mockingbird Lane has finally reopened.

A ribbon cutting ceremony and block party was held on Nov. 22, then traffic flow resumed as usual.

The newly constructed road is the product of a ten-year project. The planning began in 1998, when problems were revealed while resurfacing the road. During the construction, a Dallas Utilities pipeline was replaced, and the road was narrowed.

The original plan was to widen the road, but this outraged residents, so the plan was altered. The project cost $13.9 million and is the largest project in Highland Park history.

The construction was not supposed to be finished until April 2009, but good weather allowed the date to be pushed forward.

Kelley Henderson, a junior anthropology major, used to run on Mockingbird, but when construction began, she altered her route.

“I am thankful the construction is finished with, I tried to run down the road one day and was shocked by the massive construction taking place,” Henderson said.

Other students are from the Dallas area and have grown up driving down Mockingbird Lane. Erika Luedtke, a senior psychology major, has family living in the area and also works on Oak Lawn. The most direct route is Mockingbird Lane. She expressed how excited she is for construction to be over, hopefully now she will not be forced to rush everyday.

“I got so sick of driving down Beverley everyday,” Luedtke said. “I always felt like I was late to work because I had to stop at every stop sign on Beverley. Now, I do not have to speed to work, I can just take Mockingbird and be on time.”

For others it is just a matter of convenience. Julia Taylor, a native of Memphis Tennessee, admits moving to a new city can cause confusion in navigating. She familiarized herself with the area, but used Mockingbird Lane as a main route. After three years in Dallas, she thought she knew all of the streets well, but it wasn’t until Mockingbird was closed that she realized she did not.

“Mapquest always tells you to use Mockingbird, and it’s not easy to detour when you do not know where the detour will end. It is just nice to have the direct route back,” Taylor said.

After a year of work, the chiseling has ceased, and the concrete has been laid. Now students once again resume their use of Mockingbird Lane.