Thursday, August 20, 2015

After meeting on traffic concerns, city will issue building permit for new Lexington high school

This from H-L:
A building permit for a new high school along Winchester Road will be issued Thursday morning.
Officials from the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and Fayette County Public Schools met Wednesday afternoon to iron out issues surrounding traffic flow into the school, and they came to an agreement.

"We had a successful meeting with school representatives this afternoon, and we have general agreement on needed traffic improvements," said Derek Paulsen, the city's planning commissioner.
The city issued a stop-work order Aug. 12 after discovering that a plan review had not been completed for the high school even though construction had begun.

As part of that plan review, different city departments must sign off on key parts of the plan, including traffic engineering. Traffic engineering had not approved the plan because it needed more information about how students would access the high school, which will have a main entrance on Winchester Road and an access road that leads to Sir Barton Way, city officials said Monday.

The school system previously had been issued a land disturbance permit. Contractors were allowed to continue to do limited site preparation work this week while the school district and the city worked out how traffic was going to enter and exit the school.

The main entrance for the high school is on Winchester Road, but school officials say many people will enter and exit the property via a new access road — Meeting Street — that connects with Sir Barton Way.

But city officials said they needed to know more about traffic flow before a permit could be issued.
At the Wednesday meeting, the two sides agreed capacity would be increased in the turn lane from Sir Barton Way to Meeting Street. There will be continued discussion on improving access to the school from Winchester Road, city officials said late Wednesday.

D.W. Wilburn Inc. has a $62 million contract with the district to build the school.

The total cost of the school is expected to be more than $81 million. The school, scheduled to open in fall 2017, is being built on 65 acres at 2000 Winchester Road. It will serve about 1,800 students.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2015/08/19/3996165_after-meeting-on-traffic-concerns.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy

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