By Adam Studzinski
NORMAL – Unit 5 is having to work around the many construction projects in the Twin Cities as it figures out its bus routes for the school year.
With the start of school just a week away, Superintendent Mark Daniel said something the district will probably have to deal with for awhile is the construction on Raab Road new Normal Community High School. The Town of Normal will be placing police officers in the area to control traffic.
“That will be happening at both Raab and Airport. So we want to facilitate the flow of that traffic,” said Daniel. “Right now it’s very, very important for those buses, as soon as they start rolling, that they’re allowed to roll as quickly as possible.”
Daniel explained the routes are 99 percent ready, but Raab Road isn’t the only construction issue buses are facing.
“It seems like our main arteries are going to have to divert some of our buses,” said Daniel. “We won’t be able to actually have trial runs, we call those mock runs, until Tuesday. So that’s why I’m saying we don’t really know for sure how we’re going to divert.”
The district reconfigured its school start times this year in order to better facilitate its transportation. Daniel said they won’t for sure if the strategy worked until school is underway.
Adam Studzinski can be reached at adam.studzinski@cumulus.com.
