South Range schools to get tunnel

By Ashley Luthern | February 22, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

GREENFORD

Funding to add two left-turn lanes and a pedestrian tunnel to state Route 46 at the entrance of the South Range K-12 complex is secure, an Eastgate Regional Council of Governments representative told the South Range school board.

Ken Sympson, Eastgate program manager, said the $1.6 million project will be completely funded by state and federal dollars and that the money was already set aside during Eastgate’s January meeting. The project is scheduled for construction in 2014.

The state’s money will cover the cost of the engineering, and the federal government, which funds such projects through Eastgate, will pick up the majority of the tab, he said at Tuesday night’s South Range school-board meeting.

Some audience members questioned what would happen if government funding was scaled back.

“There’s funding committed. The engineering phase will begin shortly. The funding for this project is not on a wish list. It’s there,” Sympson said.

The left turning lanes, one in each direction on Route 46, will cost $1.2 million. As the complex was built, Ohio Department of Transportation traffic studies indicated the lanes would be needed, Sympson said.

Some athletic fields and facilities are located across Route 46 from the K-12 complex.

The tunnel will cost $400,000, and federal funds for that are coming from the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program, Sympson added.

The tunnel will be a box culvert underneath Route 46. It will be 10 feet wide by 8 feet high and designed to withstand heavy truck traffic, Sympson said. The tunnel location hasn’t been specified, but it will be in a right-of-way owned by the school.

Superintendent Dennis Dunham called the project a “critical piece” of the district’s plan.

“This spring, we’ll have a crossing guard from 3 to 5 p.m. during track practice,” Dunham said. “We need to keep the kids safe” when they cross Route 46.

An overhead pedestrian bridge would have needed to be at least 17 feet tall to accommodate commercial trucks and would have cost three or four times as much as the tunnel, Sympson said.

In other business, the board approved the 2012-13 school calendar. The first day of school will be Sept. 5, and the last day, June 7. Graduation is set for June 8.

The district will have a waiver day Sept. 4 when staff will learn about new state standards, Dunham added.