Construction of a new entrance to North Rock Creek School off of SH 18 should start sometime this month, District 1 Pottawatomie County Commissioner Melissa Dennis says.
Dennis said she is waiting on a crop to be cut before she begins construction.
“I already have the permit from the state,” she noted.
Dennis explained she is using ARPA funds to construct the gravel roadway. Her crew will perform the work.
“Since I am using my crew, we don’t have to bid the project,” she said.
Because she is able to utilize ARPA money, the project won’t cost North Rock Creek School anything.
“Our goal is to have it completed by August,” she stated.
“When I first requested help from Commissioner Dennis, she didn’t think she could do it with ARPA funds,” North Rock Creek School Supt. Blake Moody said, “But she called several months later and said she could.
“So I’m really excited about it. The project came as a shock because I didn’t think she could use ARPA funds to help.”
The commissioner estimates the new roadway will be about a quarter of a mile long. “It’s a pretty straight shot, there is a little bit of a curve and it will tie into an existing roadway,” she said.
The roadway will be 24 feet wide and the crew will build the road up to between eight and 10 inches.
“We’re using 1½ inch crusher rock,” Dennis said.
She pointed out, “2,000 tons of gravel costs $15,000 and we’ll probably use 10,000 tons of it. I’ve budgeted $225,000 for the job,” Dennis said.
The new entrance, she further explained, “is to get the traffic off of Garrett’s Lake Road. We’ll have a stop sign coming out at SH 18.”
Moody elaborated on that point. “The reason we’re so excited is we have a big traffic issue at certain times of the day on Garrett’s Lake Road and during special school events when we have big crowds on campus.
“This will absolutely alleviate that problem. One of the things it will help with is getting our high school student drivers on and off campus by avoiding the elementary school parents’ drop off line,” he explained.
I’m thankful to Melissa Dennis and the County Commissioners for making this happen for us,” Moody stated.
“I have a vision of putting a big North Rock Creek School sign on SH 18. If we did the right kind of sign and it’s digital, it could be a show piece for NRC school,” Moody said.
He said it could alert motorists on SH 18 coming from both the north and the south.
“I plan on saving up county educational sales tax funds to pave it with a black top road and curbing to match our existing roads,” Moody said. “Then it would be funded 100 percent by Pottawatomie County.”