Building Committee members said the traffic problem will continue until work is completed on the site.
WILBRAHAM - Heavy traffic congestion which followed the opening of the new Minnechaug Regional High School has lessened in the past week, Raymond Kinghorn, construction project manager for the Building Committee, said.
Building Committee members said the traffic problem will continue until work is completed on the site.
The new high school is open, but demolition of the old high school continues, so there is still only one entrance and exit from the site.
Once the project is completed there will two separate entrances and exits, off Tinkham Road and Main Street.
Now the only entrance is from Tinkham Road.
When school first opened, traffic in the morning was backed up to the new high school from Tinkham Road and Stony Hill Road and south on Main Street to the old Rice farmstand.
Kinghorn said that in a high school with 1,200 students, 1,100 of them either drove or were dropped off at school in a car.
One solution would be for more parents to carpool and for more students to take the bus, he said.
Building Committee members say buses pull up to the high school with only three students in them.
There is less of a problem after school because many students stay after school for sports and extra-curricular activities, Building Committee members said.
There also is a shortage of parking on the site while the old high school is demolished and another parking lot is constructed, Kinghorn said.
The demolition of the old high school is expected to take another two months, Building Committee Co-chair John Lovejoy said.
“People need to be patient while the job is done,” Kinghorn said.
The entire project, including the construction of athletic fields and parking lots should be completed in eight months, Kinghorn said.
Once both entrances and exits are open the traffic problem should be resolved, Kinghorn said.