The City of Owensboro officially unveiled the Fairview Drive extension after about 2 years of working on the project. The $3 million project acts as an entrance to the new Daviess County Middle School and a source for bypassing traffic when Hwy 54 begins construction.
With the development of the extension, 49.28 acres were annexed to the city as well which the city is hoping will provide more commercial space.
City Manager Nate Pagan said the nearly half-mile extension was proactive in the sense that when the widening of Hwy 54 begins, there would’ve been backup and unusual traffic patterns without it.
“There will be a lot of construction for the next few years and so that’ll cause traffic delays and disruptions of course, and so this is a good route as an alternative to Highway 54 that our local motorists can utilize,” Pagan said.
He also noted that had the extension not come to fruition, there would be school traffic driving through neighborhoods, which is not ideal for Pagan.
Superintendent of Daviess County Public Schools Matt Robbins said that he is excited for the extension to be open ahead of the August 10 start date. Originally, the plan was to utilize a small entry path for the new middle school.
Now that the three-lane road is in place the last priorities shift to ensure the school will be up to code for students to enter.
“It’s gonna take every minute of every hour of every day that we have between now and then, but we feel really good about where we are and the work that we’ve got left and we can get it accomplished,” Robbins said.
When the school year starts, he said there will be some construction still happening in August, however, it’ll all be external to the school walls; like the football field and the interior courtyard.
The construction is projected to finish in the middle of September.
Because they are working on the field, Robbins said they will have to compete off campus. Nonetheless, Robbins is still confident the building will be open and ready for class on August 10 with substantial traffic alleviation.
