BENTONVILLE -- Motorists and Thaden School students are beginning to cross paths and some safety solutions must wait for road work to finish.
Southeast C Street has been widened. The east side has a new sidewalk and freshly planted trees. Behind the roads are the mobile buildings the school is using to teach its 110 students until its campus is completed on the west side of Southeast C Street.
Many people don't know the school sits south of Southeast Eighth Street, said Marcus Chang, Thaden's director of campus life. The private Thaden School began last year with 48 students in grades seven and nine. Officials are planning to eventually serve up to 645 students in grades six through 12.
The campus will consist of 125,000 square feet in four main buildings and be built in three phases. Phase one was the temporary mobile classrooms on the east side of Southeast C Street.
Many students ride bicycles or walk to school and face a steady stream of traffic as they venture across Eighth Street, said Ed Motsinger, Thaden's campus safety officer. It can take several minutes to cross. Motsinger said he went out and watched the traffic on Eighth Street one day.
"They were zooming by and not many obeying the posted speed limit of 25 mph," he said. "They fly down the street."
Some drivers were even texting as they went by, he added. Texting and driving is against Arkansas law. It's a primary offense, meaning a police officer can pull a driver over if he sees someone texting while driving.
Chang said students are also venturing out in the community during the school day. It's part of the school's culture to get out and walk or ride bicycles and be engaged in the community, he said. The school has a mountain bike team that crosses Southeast Eighth Street when it leaves campus, he said.
There's a four-way stop at South Main and Southeast Eighth streets three blocks west of Southeast C Street, but drivers may not have to stop again until they reach a traffic signal at Southeast J and Southeast Eighth streets, Motsinger said.
The school is being built east of Main Street and south of Eighth Street. Southeast C Street divides the campus.
A traffic light and pedestrian crossing with flashing red lights are planned for the intersection of Southeast C and Southeast Eighth streets, according to planning documents the city approved in July 2017. However, they aren't scheduled to be installed until that section of Southeast Eighth Street is widened.
The Eighth Street Improvement Project will widen the road from two to four lanes from Moberly Lane to Southwest I Street. The moving utilities is nearly complete, and construction is the easiest part of the project to do, Mayor Bob McCaslin recently said. The money for the construction, however, hasn't been finalized.
Motsinger said crossing Southeast Eighth Street is a safety issue, and the matter became a big concern when a student was almost hit by a car a few weeks ago.
Motsinger said school officials contacted Bentonville police, which has stepped up enforcement and patrol in the area. He said he understands police cannot be there at all times.
Police Chief Jon Simpson said police have worked with the traffic committee and transportation department on some sign improvement. Police are also doing traffic enforcement in the area, he said.
NW News on 10/01/2018