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Highlands Today

Road Detours By Two Schools Are Lifted

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By JOE SEELIG

Highlands Today

Published: January 6, 2009

SEBRING - Traffic bound for Memorial Elementary School and Sebring High School should not encounter road detours as students go back to school today.

Detours for road construction at Memorial Drive and Valerie Boulevard were expected to be done by 5 p.m. Monday.

All but the finishing touches on Kenilworth Boulevard and Highlands Avenue, where the western spoke of Kenilworth is getting a makeover, were also expected to be done Monday afternoon.

David Caisse, project manager with the Highlands County Engineer's Office, said there will still be some detours at Valerie and Memorial as construction dictates, but it should not interfere with school traffic.

"We will still allow the contractor to close a road here or there as they need," said Caisse. "But none of that will happen within two hours of the school opening or closing.

"We're raising the center of the intersection a foot so we will have to be in the road to do that, unfortunately."

The county got reports of cars bottoming out when entering the intersection at speed, because the roadway dipped there, he said.

David Solomon, director of school bus transportation for the Highlands County School Board, said he will redirect his bus drivers who have mid-day trips in the area.

"We've told our people that have mid-day runs that they need to go through College Drive," said Solomon on Monday.

Caisse said Memorial Drive/Valerie Boulevard intersection is getting new turn lanes and better drainage.

The county is putting curbing and six culverts under Memorial Drive and Valerie Boulevard, Caisse said.

The culverts were also placed along the sides of the roads, all to handle storm water runoff. That storm water will then discharge into a canal along Memorial Drive and eventually go into Lake Sebring.

Plans also include creating several small retention ponds or retention-type canals to direct storm water runoff, said Caisse.
Kenilworth Boulevard
Assistant County Engineer Elius Nortelus is the project manager the Kenilworth Boulevard project.

"We're paving right now as we speak," said Nortelus on Monday. "The striping and pavement marking should be completed by late this afternoon. We still have to do a little work during the week for sod and some sidewalk work, but the road should be reopened for vehicles by early morning before schools open."

On Kenilworth, the county did a full-depth construction that included new material shell rock, repaving, concrete sidewalks on both sides, curbing and drainage.

"We took advantage of when the school was in recess and we'll be finished before it reopens," Nortelus said.

Highlands Today reporter Joe Seelig can be reached at (863) 386-5834 or jseelig@highlandstoday.com .

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