The beginning of school is just 12 days away.

This year, the beginning of school might be a little rough for some, especially those who are enrolled at Hartselle High School and F.E. Burleson Elementary School.

Anyone who has traveled Bethel Road knows about the traffic issues that those students, parents, teachers and employees are about to face. The road is being widened to accommodate the increased traffic.

The road project was put on the fast track this summer. The project was supposed to take about 80 days starting just after Memorial Day. There were 84 days between that holiday and the start of school.

There was no doubt in my mind that the project was going to be done this summer. The city and Department of Development Director Jeff Johnson had a great plan ready to get the project completed in the allotted time.

The one factor that no one was able to predict was our unusually wet summer. In particular, we had more rain on July 4 than we usually do for the entire month of July.

Even with those setbacks, the project has moved about as quickly as possible. The majority of the project is scheduled to be completed by the end of next week.

That being said, there will still be some significant work that will have to be completed while school is in session.

So if you do have to endure some delays, the thing to remember is that this too shall pass.

Honestly, there’s no good time to do a project like this. The best time was to do it during the summer while school was out. They just won’t be able to get it completely done in time.

Once this project is done, I’m sure the traffic flow during morning and afternoon school traffic times will be much improved. We’ll reap the benefits of the construction in the coming months.

We’re just going to have to endure the inconvenience for a few more days.

Brent Maze is the managing editor of the Hartselle Enquirer.