081806 Will drivers have a new entrance?

BY R.J. MARX

While construction continues at Fox Lane High School, drivers are facing another season of complex maneuvers through barricades, heavy machinery, and no-parking zones. Tops on the list of the district's long-term goals is to provide a Ieft-turn lane from Route 172 onto the campus, but the goal remains an elusive one.

In the meantime, one option, said district superintendent Debra Jackson, is to make the construction entrance west of the campus a permanent entrance. Dr. Jackson said that the district has approved hiring a firm, John Collins Engineers, to help the district explore that possibility.

Bedford Police Chief Chris Menzel also weighed in on the matter, urging the Bedford Central Board of Education to keep the temporary construction entrance on a permanent basis, with a "right turn only" stipulation, both on leaving the cam-pus and entering the campus from Route 172 eastbound. "I believe a permanent entrance/exit there , (in addition to the current entrance/exit by Fox Lane Road) will provide at least.a two-fold benefit," he wrote, First, public safety wI l be-enhaneed - because of the secondary entrance/exit to the campus. Second, the flow of traffic near the campus, especially during school opening and closing, will improve dramatically. We've all experienced the traffic nightmare on Route 172 at the start and finish of the school day"

The current entrance would still be needed, Dr. Jackson said. "This would be in conjunction with that," she said. "The drop-off would be in the back. This would allow traffic to come out and make a right-hand turn, but you would still need to be able to have traffic coming from the east end and getting around."

Mark Betz, assistant superintendent for business and administrative services, said that whether or not a light would be placed at the construction location was a matter for the New 'York State Department of Transportation.

Right now, it remains a construction entrance, and taxpayers will have to approve changing that to become a permanent entrance, Dr. Jackson said.

She said that there is more parking this year than last, in various places throughout the campus. "Student parking will stay where it's at," she said. '"reacher parking will be somewhat expanded. You'll have more parking on the west side of the middle school. We will not have parking over by the temporary entrance. We will have parking in front of the middle school. The traffic flow should be better.

Other construction throughout the district includes heating and air-conditioning plans at Bedford Hills Elementary School and the Fox Lane Middle School. There is some small work being done in Bedford Village.

A worker who fell several stories during a construction accident last month is recuperating, said Dr. Jackson. On Thursday July 27, a worker, a 25-year-old New Rochelle man, fell from scaffolding and sustained a severe head injury He was transported to Westchester Medical Center via SEAT Flight.

He is beginning to show signs of recovery, said Dr. Jackson. Its a miracle, after how far he fell," she said