In a meeting with Mayor Bruce Bassett and interim City Manager Steve Lancaster, Superintendent Dr. Gary Plano and school board president Ralph Jorgenson advocated for the road construction project at the intersection of Southeast 40th Street and 86th Avenue Southeast to be completed in time for the opening of Northwood Elementary. The project would add a left-turn lane onto 86th Avenue Southeast, which currently poses an uncontrolled left turn.

“We pitched the need to potentially have that work done during this summer before school opens because we are concerned about the number of walkers and the number of cars that are headed westbound on 40th that will be turning southbound onto 86th because that is the [Northwood Elementary] parent drop-off area,” Plano said.

“So we’ve pitched the idea to the city to see what the city would need, if anything, to help encourage them to move up the funding from next year’s budget into this year’s budget.”

The project has drawn opposition in City Council, with opponents citing cost, and safety issues for walkers, as the new turn lane will create another lane of traffic for people to cross.