When classes resume next fall, the parking lot and traffic patterns at Preble Shawnee High/Middle School will see changes for the first time in 42 years.
Courtesy Preble Shawnee Local School District
CAMDEN – When classes resume next fall, the parking lot and traffic patterns at Preble Shawnee High/Middle School will see changes for the first time in 42 years.
During a Tuesday, June 11, board of education meeting, administrators discussed parking lot improvements which would begin next week.
“The front parking lot, the biggest thing there is safety,” Superintendent Todd Bowling told board members. “So right now two lanes come up through it. And kids are crossing in front of both cars. There’s no sidewalk for them to walk on. There’s just cars parked there. So it is a safety issue.”
“And extending parking,” Bowling added later. “Because right now, you already have to park out back, walk all the way up those steps and that’s not real accommodating for some of our older fans,” he said of those attending sporting events at the school.
“To get 42 years without putting anything down is pretty darn good,” he noted.
Phase one of the project as approved, at a cost of approximately $931,000, will include concrete and asphalt work on the rear parking lot, installing a new senior walkway, new curb and sidewalks, removal of concrete and grass islands and filling them with stone, installation of a storm drain at the ball field, milling and paving of the bus lot, new lights/light poles and directional signage and more.
One big change is the direction of entry/exit into the school parking lot. During the school day, the traffic will enter on the east side of the school, and exit on the west side.
In the evening, following events, traffic will be able to exit either way, according to Bowling.
Safety is the main concern for work on the front lot, with students getting out of one car, crossing in front of others. “We want sidewalks on both sides,” Bowling explained. “Get out of your car, come down the sidewalks, and we will have a very highly marked, with lights, crosswalk.”
Work on the lots will be done in sections, with the goal of having the back lot project completed prior to the start of the new school year.
Phase two of the project, restructuring the front lot, is slated for 2025.
Reach Eddie Mowen Jr. at 937-683-4061 and follow on X @emowenjr.
