With the new system, there is a possibility to say goodbye to the 15 minute wait to get out of school after the bell each day.
Many have heard of the new roundabout plans coming to the high school. If things go as planned, this will be the last year for lights at Smith Valley and Woodman Boulevard.
“Construction is currently planned for 2024 when school is out for the summer,” Mr. Mark St. John, Greenwood city engineer, said.
Greenwood has become a hotspot for roundabouts and now there are few places drivers can go without having a roundabout on the path. There is a reason for this.
“This project will relieve congestion and improve safety at the intersection. This roundabout will be paired with a second roundabout at Smith Valley Road and Averitt Road, eliminating both signalized intersections along the corridor,” Mr. St. John said.
One big question that many people involved with the high school, Southwest and the administration office involved was how they will function with their entrance under construction, but this should not be a huge problem.
“Access to the Greenwood High School campus, Southwest Elementary School, and the GCSC administration offices will be maintained during construction,” Mr. St. John said.
While most of the school’s staff and students are enthusiastic about the idea of a roundabout, there are some who would rather have another option.
“Well, I certainly don’t feel good about it. I feel like it’s a mistake, but obviously nobody asked me about that. The difficulty is going to be the fact that you have a lot of people leaving at one time at the end of school and at 5:00 when practices end for football and stuff, and I think those two are going to run into a lot of traffic problems with that,” Mr. Rick Guipe, history teacher, said.
Some decisions are made without meetings, and that has affected Mr. Guipes house at the end of Woodmen Blvd.
“The decision was already made before we even knew about it. We met with the city in May and again in June. We saw where they’re going to put it. It’s not as far into our yard as we thought it was going to be,” Mr. Guipe said.
Some changes are impossible to control.
“Well I was there when it was originally a flasher light 15 years ago. The light for my driveway and the school was red, and Smith Valley lights were yellow. We had to have the police let us in and out of our driveway, the kids leaving practices were kind of on their own and it was tough. People petitioned to get that light put in there. It has definitely aided in safety for our students. The wrecks that have happened aren’t the kids; it’s the people driving on Averitt that smash into each other because they’re looking down at their phones. It’s not for Greenwood High school, it’s not for Rick Guipe. It’s for people who live on the west side who want to get over there faster, and so we have the roundabout,” Mr. Guipe said.
With the current difficult real estate market, it can be very frustrating to have to deal with a loss of money with the huge prices.
“The city made an offer saying they’re going to give us money for what the market value is for that piece of property. They can’t make up for what we’re going to lose in home value though. So when we want to sell the house, I’m going to lose a fair amount of money that I could’ve had if I had a full yard,” Mr. Guipe said.
