By Susan Carroll

Review Writer

Nicole Baker was a junior at Lake Orion High School last spring when she received an assignment in her American History class relating to lobbying.

“We were supposed to persuade the government or get the government to do something. We could do this by writing to them on the national, state or local level,” said Nicole. “We could write on just about anything we wanted to talk to the government about.”

She hadn’t quite decided on what she was going to write about until one morning when an idea just feel into place.

She was sitting in traffic on Clarkston Road, trying to turn onto M-24. This was her morning routine, she left for school, and then sat in a stream of traffic waiting to turn right so she could get to Lake Orion High School.

“I thought to myself, this is ridiculous,” she said. That is when she decided the topic of her assignment in American History class. She was going to write to Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett about the traffic problem.

A portion of her letter said: “Currently, when driving east on Clarkston road until it meets M-24, there are two lanes… Since there is generally a long back-up in the right lane and a complete vacancy in the left, I propose that the left lane can be used to go straight or turn right.”

There are two existing lanes on Clarkston; one was used for vehicles to travel straight through M-24, taking them to a gravel road, not well traveled. The other lane, which most vehicles used, was used to turn right onto M-24.

“I thought it would make so much more sense and alleviate this traffic jam every morning if two lanes could turn right,” said Nicole.

She wrote the letter proposing that the eastbound through lane be allowed to operate as a second right turn lane, and turned it into her teacher. Although it was not a requirement to mail the actual assignment, she did just that.

The school year ended and she did not give the assignment another thought. However, after returning from a vacation, she was at the intersection and saw the sign that said that both lanes allowed traffic to turn right.

“I thought, ‘That’s so crazy because I had that idea.’ I didn’t know it was because of my letter,” said Nicole.

A couple days later, she received a letter in the mail from the Road Commission for Oakland County (RCOC). Upon reading the letter, it said Barnett had forwarded them the letter and they decided to implement the change.

The engineers of RCOC and Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) investigated the proposal and it was agreed that Nicole’s suggestion was of great value.

Nicole was recognized during a RCOC meeting on Sept. 21 for her contribution of recommending an improvement to the Clarkston/M-24 intersection in Orion township.

At the meeting, Nicole was presented with framed plaques and an Outstanding Citizen Award for her creative solution by the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, Road Commission for Oakland County and Orion Township.

“They said they were glad I was an active member of the community and that they get a lot of letters about problems, but not many offering solutions,” said Nicole.

Nicole is now a senior and in the midst of deciding the future of her education. She was offered a full scholarship, including room and board, to the University of Alabama.

She is considering a career in mathematical sciences, but she’s not “100 percent sure.” She continues her college visits and hopes to make her final decision after Thanksgiving.

Nicole has a leadership role as a choral officer at Lake Orion High School, and she also teaches piano lessons and tutors – mostly in math and science.