RC Elementary parking lot to undergo changes during the summer

Members of the Rogers City Area Schools Board of Education awarded a contract to the low bidder for a project which will redesign the Erie Street parking lot at Rogers City Elementary School. The current ?U-?shaped drop-off/parking area is considered unsafe by school officials.

?There will be some modification to the traffic flow in front of the elementary school,? said president Scott McLennan.

?We?re taking a look at eliminating what is perceived as a traffic flow problem and a safety hazard to some of the children being dropped off and picked up.?

McLennan said the changes should eliminate some of the congestion problems. ?This is a big step forward,? said McLennan.

?IF YOU?RE familiar with the parking lot,? said chief financial officer Don Schaedig, ?cars can drive right up to the elementary. They wouldn?t be able to get anywhere near the elementary? after the reconstruction project this summer.

There will be one entrance and one exit, as opposed to the two exits currently in place. The project was put out for bids in April and bids were due at the beginning of the month. The contract was awarded to H & D, Inc. of Bay Shore, the firm which worked on the lot between the high school and the elementary building last year. It was $2,000 lower than Streich Trucking & Excavating of Rogers City.

Cordes Excavating, which is working on the US-23 reconstruction, was nearly $30,000 higher than H & D?s bid of $124,886. Chief financial officer Don Schaedig worked through United

Design Associates, Inc., engineer/architect of Cheboygan, to redesign the driveway and parking lot. ?HOW IS it holding up?? asked board member Dana LaBar of the work performed by H & D. Schaedig said it was ?very well done.? The high school parking lot off Erie was redone by Fleis Excavating of Rogers City a couple of years ago. United Design worked successfully with H & D Inc. on projects including the city of Cheboygan, DDA Streetscape project, the Cheboygan Area Schools? track and athletic field project, and several other parking lot projects. All three of the bids were under the engineer?s estimate.

?The only problem we had last year is they were late in getting started because we had the bids let out late,? said Schaedig. ?Hopefully this year they?ll be in there shortly after school is out and start to work.?