Published: August 22, 2008 05:56 pm         

School road to close Monday

By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News



Parents and officials are hoping that school traffic in Gardendale does not become a nightmare during the next few weeks.

Officials are doing what they can to make traffic flow more smoothly when crews shut down part of Ash Avenue as early as Monday.

The entrance to Ash Avenue, the main access road for Bragg Middle School, will be closed for an estimated 45 days while road crews move utilities for another project - the widening of Mt. Olive Road.

In the meantime, officials with Bragg Middle and Gardendale Elementary schools, the city of Gardendale and the Jefferson County Board of Education are trying to figure out the best way to route traffic while the road is closed.

They all agreed that no matter what they decide, there will be traffic delays while crews work.

The solution they have decided upon routes all traffic for Bragg Middle School through the Gardendale Elementary School entrance.

There are two lanes for traffic entering Gardendale Elementary, which widen into three lanes in front of the school.

Bragg Middle School principal Jeff Caufield said that parents who have children at Bragg Middle School only should stay in the left lane so they can turn left onto Bauer Lane.

They will then turn left by the softball field and left again onto Ash Avenue.

Parents then make a left into the drop-off circle in front of the middle school.

Exiting the circle, cars will be allowed to make only a right-hand turn and follow the same route back to Mt. Olive Road.

During the traffic detour, Jefferson County Board of Education member Karen Smith Nix of Gardendale encourages drivers to steer clear of the area if possible.

“If you’re going to the high school or to work, stay away from the middle school and the elementary school while this work is being done,” Nix said.

After school, some Bragg students will continue to walk to Gardendale First Baptist Church for pick-up, accompanied by a faculty member.

Nix, who has a son at Bragg Middle, said she highly recommends that parents allow their middle-school students to walk to the church for pick-up by parents. That would keep parents from getting into congested school traffic.

Nix said the school board has agreed to pay three off-duty Gardendale Police officers to assist Gardendale’s regular crossing guards during the duration of the detour.

Gardendale Police Lt. Marty Brown, who works traffic at the school, said the officers have the authority to write citations to drivers who refuse to follow the temporary traffic routes.

Work is already being done on Ash Avenue where it intersects with Mt. Olive Road.

Kenny Burton, deputy director with the Jefferson County Highway Engineer Office, said crews have been doing drainage work and other work that would not impede traffic.

He said Ash Avenue could be closed as early as Monday and the work is projected to be completed in the “45-day range.”

Burton also said that the county would not close Bauer Lane as previously planned.

The Gardendale City Council had said on Aug. 4 that after work on Ash Avenue was finished, crews would close Bauer Lane for work on the nearby connector road that will stretch from Mt. Olive Road to Odum Road.

“We hope to be able to make all the connections without closing that road,” said Burton. He added that at least one lane on Bauer should remain open at all times.