BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
STARKE — Student safety is behind afternoon closures of Orange Street when schools reopen Aug. 10.
Superintendent Will Hartley said the school district is working with the Starke Police Department to close North Orange Street in the afternoons to only Bradford Middle School related traffic.
North Orange will be closed to through traffic from 3:20 to 4 p.m., although the initial closures could be closer to 30 minutes than 40. Both parents and school buses will have separate routes to travel.
Parents picking up students from Bradford Middle School will enter North Orange Street from West Weldon Street. They will drive to the school and around the student pickup loop, then make a lefthand turn back onto Orange Street and exit via Weldon.
Washington Street will not be an option as this is being reserved for bus traffic and traffic from the Rainbow Center.
Buses will line up at the middle school and exit with a lefthand turn onto Orange Street. They will turn right onto Washington and proceed to Bradford High. Likewise, traffic from the Rainbow Center will exit via Washington.
Through traffic traveling to North Orange from the south will be stopped by a barricade north of West Adkins Street.
With all traffic leaving the school by turning left, there won’t be parent vehicles and buses crossing one another at the same time a crossing guard is trying to help students cross the street. Students will be sent away from the traffic.
A few weeks into the school year, Hartley said the street closure may last as little as 10 to 15 minutes. He warned school board members they may receive phone calls in the meantime.
“People do not like things that change, but this is necessary,” he said. “It may not be the exact right answer, and we can work and change things as needed, but something has to happen because what’s happening there is not safe.”
