Schools

School Neighbors Concerned About Traffic During Three Years of Construction

The biggest concern neighbors have about the new middle school project is in regard to traffic – while construction likely lasts for three years, the old Higgins School will still be in regular operation and residents will have to navigate around construction vehicles, school buses, staff and parents.

About 20-25 residents showed up for a neighborhood meeting on June 10, according to city officials, and sat through a presentation of the construction process and traffic patterns.

The Salem News reports the main concern residents spoke to was the potential for school traffic to clog the surrounding streets in the neighborhood.

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The project team says that should not be a problem, however, because there will be much more roadway and a clearly defined traffic pattern than exists at the site now, and there is a separate service access road created onto Perkins Street. 

The entire worksite, which will be adjacent to the existing school, will be fenced off and the city will make efforts to block any potential cut-throughs for vehicles. 

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The Salem News reports those measures appeared to satisfy the residents’ concerns and one woman said she was pleased with the plans as presented.

As for construction itself, the plan is for minimal blasting – the foundation will be raised 2-1/2 feet to specifically avoid ledge – and work schedules will be arranged to limit truck traffic during the busiest periods of school-related traffic. 

Construction will occur Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. and occasionally on Saturdays (same hours) as needed. Higgins Building Committee Chairwoman Beverley Griffin Dunne says that will mostly occur to compensate for bad weather during the week. 

Once the new school is complete, students and staff will be moved over to that new building and the old school will be demolished. That target date is the fall of 2016. Construction would not begin until next summer. 

Dunne, briefing her School Committee colleagues the following night, said both the project team and city officials would be readily available to neighbors to address their concerns throughout the entirety of the project. The city will be hiring a Clerk of the Works for the project as well.

“Our biggest goal is to make sure that everything goes very smoothly and if there are any issues or problems that they are addressed immediately,” said Dunne. “We want this to be a very pleasant project for everyone involved.”

“We know there will be some noise and some dust and some different things that happen on any construction site, and we want to make sure we stay ahead of any concerns the neighbors have and keep them informed along the way,” she said.

She said more neighborhood meetings would be held. Project updates and details are also available online here.


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