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Cloverdale may see traffic delays as school starts
ST Construction finishes the drainage upgrade in the south parking lot of Cloverdale High School. Cody Rich, Travis Fulk, Jared Bowman and Stan Horner place the storm sewer pipe.
CLOVERDALE -- Students and parents should expect minimal traffic delays at Cloverdale Community School Corporation as parking lot construction wraps up.
Superintendent Greg Linton said summer rain has caused a few delays, which means the first two weeks of school will consist of work on the portion of the $1.6 million in upgrades throughout the corporation.
The biggest part of the project was replacing the drainage system around the school to help with issues at the administration building and softball field.
"The primary work is around the high school and bus garage area. Both are expected to be finished by Aug. 10 when the students arrive. After that, it will be a day-to-day decision on traffic flow, depending on work done the day before," Linton explained.
While the biggest part of the construction will be complete, this still leaves some milling, resurfacing and striping of the parking lots to be complete.
Linton said the contractor, Wabash Valley Asphalt, has agreed to limit construction work during drop-off and pick-up times to accommodate buses and families.
"Wabash Valley is the asphalt company. They are very good about rerouting traffic. They are going to halt as much work as possible during arrival and dismissal times. Within the first couple weeks it should be finished," Linton said.
Linton asks that all parents, students and families allow plenty of time as the project wraps up and to please be patient because these projects are necessary to prevent any future issues.
Despite a few rain delays, the project has mostly stayed on schedule, Linton said. There have been a few minor changes to the project during the process, but for the most part there have been no surprises.
The school has had to work with the Town of Cloverdale as well as area homeowners to secure rights-of-way, all of which were completed without issue. Linton stressed his appreciation to the community for working with the school.
The repair and resurfacing is part of a series of upgrades to be completed through a lease finance agreement with the Building Corporation. The agreement was sought for the necessary upgrades because of a deep budget cut from the state totaling roughly $1.3 million.
The parking lot project was expected to total about $700,000 and the drainage project expected to be about $300,000.
The projects also include: Updating HVAC equipment at the high school, upgrading the roof at the middle school, upgrading the gym PA system, upgrading the bus parking lot fences for security reasons, resurface the track, resurface the high school gym floor, upgrading the security cameras at the press box and football field and replace old ventilation units at the elementary school with cabinets.