After Delays, Bayless Opens Loop Road with Ribbon Cutting

After several months of delays and unforeseen construction problems, the new road connecting the parking lots at and to Hildesheim Road is finally complete.

The district celebrated the opening of the road with a ribbon cutting on Thursday. The road was the final project the district has untaken with funds from the 2008 voter-approved Proposition O bond issuance.

The zero-tax-increase Prop O bond issue provided the Bayless with $4.3 million to modernize electrical and plumbing infrastructure; install a new heating, ventilation and air conditioning system; implement traffic safety improvements; and provide increased classroom and office space. The bond issue tackled four of eight recommendations made by the Bayless Student Task Force, a 60-person community advisory committee.

“It’s the last of many projects here, and I hope the first of many more to come,” said district architect Don Hussman at the ribbon cutting.

The ribbon was cut by two elementary students, Ajdin Omerovic and Kelsey Berg. Afterward, there were cheers as the first parents drove through to pick up their children.

“The elementary students are happy to have a safe way to wait for their moms and dads to pick them up,” Omerovic read to the crowd from a cue card.

The new road loops behind the elementary and intermediate schools and has a multi-lane space for parents picking their children up to idle before exiting onto Hildesheim. The project has been in the works since 2009, but congestion on Weber Road at the beginning and end of the school day has increased significantly since Bayless eliminated district bussing in a 2010 cost-saving measure.

“It will relieve traffic from being on the county roadways and will be a safer situation for our pick up and drop off… I think it’s going to be huge in terms of safety,” Buildings and Grounds Director Jeff Timeus told Patch earlier in the project.

The project was originally slated to be finished before the start of the school year, but rock under the construction area turned out to be much harder and deeper than originally thought, delaying the project. There were other delays related to weather, scheduling and inspections, and there are still some regular construction items still to be completed, according to a memo to the Bayless School Board by Timeus.