Drought moves WHS construction along
By Scott Nicholson
nicholson@wataugademocrat.com

The lack of rain has poured good fortune on construction crews and school advocates who are welcoming pre-winter progress on new school construction.

The Watauga County Board Commissioners heard an update on the progress of the new Watauga High School during Tuesday’s regular hearing. In the previous month, the construction contracting team of Barnhill-Vannoy reported that in the previous 30 days ending Nov. 15, crews had graded much of the building site and were applying gravel, with erosion control measures also added, with rough grading for athletic fields underway.

“The amount of work has been phenomenal,” County Manager Rocky Nelson said, reporting crews were 5 percent ahead of schedule, or the equivalent of two weeks, and the concrete pad for the main school building will be completed two months early. Daniel Boone Drive has been closed, with a connector road completed to Hilltop Drive.

Nelson said contractors had discovered rock at some sites, but a contingency was in place to cover additional costs of removal. A firm was engaged to check surrounding house foundations in the event of damage from blasting. Nelson said the high school subcommittee met with N.C. Department of Transportation officials, who pledged four-way signals at the planned access road off of U.S. 421 and at the Perkinsville intersection would be accelerated. Right-of-way acquisition will begin in January and the projects are expected to be complete by August 2010 to coincide with the planned opening of the high school.

The access road from East King Street will begin in the spring and is expected to be complete by summer. “Everything is either on schedule or slightly ahead of schedule,” Nelson said.

Commission chairman Jim Deal said the dry weather has assisted progress and about 50 pieces of heavy equipment were being used on the site. The county was also posting “No trespassing” signs and requesting police patrols in response to neighborhood complaints about recreational four-wheelers being used on the site.