With a new Culver’s already open and a planned sports fieldhouse coming next year, a Penn-Harris-Madison school board member says new safety measures could be needed at the intersection of McKinley Highway and Bittersweet Road.
But the administration disagrees.
At PHM’s most recent board meeting last week, the board approved another legal step needed for the planned $16 million fieldhouse to be built northwest of the intersection. Like the rest of the trustees, Clare Roach voted yes, but she said she’s worried about students crossing the busy highway.
"There's a lot of natural magnet across the street now and I just think we really need to put our heads together to make sure that our students know how to cross that intersection," Roach said. "But perhaps more importantly that we can make some investments into infrastructure to increase the likelihood that our students are safe."
But Aaron Leniski, the district’s chief operating officer, says the corporation and its contractors already have designed enough safety into the project. There won’t be any multi-million dollar elevated pedestrian walkways like you see on college campuses.
"I think she wants to make sure that the public knows that as a board they're safety-conscious," Leniski said. "She might not have recalled when she said that that all the safety infrastructure is there."
Leniski says by the time the athletic facility opens in fall 2025, the district will make sure there’s enough lighting along sidewalks. During the winter he’s confident the gas stations at the corner and Culver’s will keep snow cleared from their sidewalks.
The high school plans to use a shuttle bus for teams and classes using the fieldhouse, and officials don’t expect many kids to be walking between the fieldhouse and high school. The school also will make more of an effort to educate students who do make the walk about crosswalk safety.
"It's not just about building a new great building that's going to service the kids," Leniski said. "It's making sure that when we build the building we can have safe practices, make sure that it's a positive experience for their entire life, and that they're safe to and from the building."
The district expects the fieldhouse to open in fall 2025.
