Some Rio Rancho schools face impact of city construction zones

RIO RANCHO — As the start of a new school year approaches, officials with several Rio Rancho schools near city construction project zones are strategizing on how to make their campuses accessible and safe, as well as communicate with families so they know what to expect.

Bus routes for Rio Rancho High School, Cleveland High School, Eagle Ridge Middle School, Lincoln Middle School and Ernest Stapleton Elementary School are all impacted by projects either in progress or expected to start later this month. School officials have communicated the changes to families, whose dropoff and pickup efforts will be impacted when school begins instruction begins Aug. 7.

Projects impacting schools include the $8.4 million Broadmoor Boulevard mill and inlay initiative, the $3.2 million Idalia Road improvement initiative, and $2.9 million for reconstruction of Lema Road. The Rio Rancho Governing Body approved during a recent meeting a contract with an Albuquerque-based contractor to work on Lema Road. City officials, council members and Mayor Gregg Hull commented on the project’s impact on the Lincoln community and communicating with families.

Bus routesNick Brook, RRPS’s executive director of student transportation, said some bus routes have been adjusted going back as far as last school year, when some projects began.

“It hasn’t been as bad as we thought. We thought it was going to be a lot worse,” Brook wrote in an email to the Observer. “Our drivers have done a good job of adjusting.”

He added that the district has a full staff of bus drivers, in contrast to last school year, when Rio Rancho schools faced a shortage.

Rio Rancho High School Bus 214, serving the Western Hills area west of Broadmoor, and Bus 210, serving the area around Nicklaus Drive, required “only directional changes and a couple of minor time adjustments,” Brook wrote.

The high school, which has the largest bus volume in the Broadmoor area, has its bus drivers arrive at the school “early enough to avoid peak traffic, and we have not experienced constant delays or significant congestion,” Brook wrote.

Cleveland High School’s buses do not use Broadmoor in their route, Brook wrote. The fleet previously used Idalia Road and are now using Paseo del Volcán during the reconstruction project, which has meant “minimal impact (to bus routes) overall,” he wrote.

Eagle Ridge Middle School’s Bus 217 operates in the Chessman area west of Broadmoor, using Unser and Northern boulevards to get to school, so no adjustments to the bus route were necessary, according to Brook.

No changes were made to the route for Ernest Stapleton Elementary’s Bus 211, since it already uses Unser Boulevard for access, Brook wrote.

No bus service is provided to Lincoln Middle School students who live in the Broadmoor area because the road falls within Lincoln’s walk zone, he noted.

School officials have not had to change bus stops as a result of the construction projects, he said. Information on bus stops became available on the My Ride K-12 App after July 28, according to the district’s website.

Student dropoff/pickupRRHS, Ernest Stapleton, Eagle Ridge and Lincoln have not had significant changes to their student pickup/dropoff routes, according to an email from school district spokesperson Wyndham Kemsley.

RRHS officials have, however, allowed families to utilize a second dropoff/pickup zone just south of the tennis courts on the westbound lane of Loma Colorado Boulevard, in addition to the traditional pickup/dropoff area off Broadmoor, just north of Loma Colorado Boulevard.

“The construction on Broadmoor has required students and families to take alternate routes at times. School admin has encouraged families to take additional time in the morning and utilize alternative routes during this time,” Kemsley wrote.

The high school’s student parking lot and student parking requirements have not changed as a result of the construction, he noted.

Ernest Stapleton has several different access points to campus, so parents and students getting onto the property isn’t “too much of a strain,” Kemsley wrote. The same dynamics apply to Eagle Ridge, he added.

The Lema project “may back traffic up around Lincoln,” Kemsley wrote, but the school has been told by city officials that “there will always be at least one lane of traffic open.”

The roads around the Lincoln (Rosswood Drive, Lynwood Drive and Parr Road) “should remain open and clear” for the duration of the project, Kemsley wrote, which will help “streamline traffic and avoid any serious delays.”

“Parents and staff will most likely need to stay up to date with what is happening on Broadmoor and anticipate delays,” Kemsley wrote.

The Lema Road project and the city’s communication with the city was a topic of discussion July 24.

Rio Rancho Public Works Director BJ Gottlieb told council members and Hull he’d like to get several message boards around the outside of the school to alert district constituents of where they can drop-off their children as well as a warning not to run across heavy equipment. A meeting between the contractor and the school will be scheduled as soon as possible to discuss traffic control, Gottlieb said.

“I won’t guarantee there won’t be pain, but it’s pain we can manage,” he said at the meeting.

Referring to the Lema Road project, Hull responded, “progress is disruptive and it’s inconvenient, but I remind everybody ... when the job is done, we have a much nicer product at the end of the day.”