HBI

Dalton Walker
dwalker@harrisburginfo.com

March 11. 2010 6:00AM

Once completed the entrance to Harrisburg’s newest elementary will be through one of the city’s newer housing developments but homeowners in the Homesites Addition neighborhood need not to worry about construction trucks on their streets.

In the coming weeks as construction starts at the elementary school site in northwest Harrisburg, trucks that deliver materials or any other vehicle that needs access to the site will use a makeshift entrance coming from the south near the high school.

The decision was made at a recent school board meeting after Superintendent Jim Holbeck recommended the road as the best solution for construction traffic.

Harrisburg City Council members, who gave the OK for regular traffic once the school is built, requested the district not use the streets in Homesites for construction traffic due the amount of equipment expected to be used, Holbeck said.

Another option would have been to build a road north from the site to 272nd Street.

But that option was quickly nixed because of past exchanges with township members that live along the road. Plus, the school would have to purchase nine extra acres to build the road.

272nd Street is mostly a township road with a small stretch near Cliff Avenue maintained by the city of Harrisburg.

Earlier this year, township members asked the district to either improve the road or find another option citing that the current road could not handle the expected high traffic. The district seriously considered the road as another entrance besides Kent Street but concerns by township members changed that.

On the high school entrance from Willow Street, Holbeck said the entrance made the most sense expense and relationship wise.

“I think it’s our best choice to go that route,” Holbeck told the board at a recent meeting. “We don’t have expense for paying nine acres, won’t have to fight with township to use their road or what they charge for maintenance on that road.”

Once the school is built and opens for students, the construction road would be transformed back to natural estate, Holbeck said. But a part of the road on district land will remain for future use, such as a secondary access to the space behind the high school.

Ball diamonds are expected to be built in that area in the future.