About a month ago, road work started on Old Highway N. Construction workers are ripping out the road and expanding it to make the road two lanes, then adding a third one, for a turn lane.
“It’s all part of the plan to provide a local connection for cars and pedestrians between Hawk Ridge Trail and Sommers Road so people do not have to go out on Highway N,” vice president of SCI David Nolan said.
Nolan explains that this construction will help to support commercial development.
“It is also planned to support commercial development. The existing road was narrow, unsafe, in terrible shape, and did not provide good pedestrian access.”
Many students and staff have been impacted by the construction delays as it takes longer to get through the area.
“I think it is very stressful because you have to make sure not to hit anyone,” Bella Romine (11) said. “I have a fear of getting t-boned. It can get very backup ed.”
When will the construction be completed?
“The road work construction should be done by 2025,” Nolan said.
Nolan also says that there are more cars and traffic as more houses and commercial development is being built.
“The old highway was just a rural road built many years ago when everything was just farms,” Nolan said.
Closing all the roads is causing a lot of traffic disruptions, but with the new roads that go by Freddy’s and the fire station, the detours are very easy and not far out of the way.
In what ways will this help traffic in the long-term? Will there be a decrease in accidents?
“The project adds lights at the intersection at Sommers and Hawk Ridge, which should help with safety and reduce backups,” explains Nolan.
The project will affect anyone driving or walking because of the traffic pattern switch where it is closed. Just like the people in the subdivision.
“It also affects buses the same because they have to take the detour past the fire station instead of taking Old N directly to Hawk Ridge,” Nolan said.
Cat Paige (11) explains the traffic from the roadwork on Old Highway N. “It doesn’t affect me a whole lot but there is definitely more traffic at inconvenient times,” Paige said.
