Construction under way at elementary school

By ALEX STRICKLAND/Bigfork Eagle

The sounds of happy children celebrating the last day of school last Tuesday were quickly replaced by a somewhat less cheerful noise as construction started in earnest at Bigfork Elementary School the next day.

Crews cordoned off the school grounds to begin work on the site, reconfiguring accesses and prepping areas for building. District Superintendent Russ Kinzer said work on constructing the actual buildings has been delayed in the design phase and will likely begin the first week of July.

"That will be about three weeks behind schedule," he said. "We had hoped for better, but it's unavoidable."

The District is currently waiting for bids from construction companies and will — along with construction manager Hammerquist and Caselegno — choose a bid in the coming weeks.

Kinzer said that the site improvements, along with the cafeteria and new entrance to the elementary school, must be finished by the time classes begin in September. Work on other areas of the school will hopefully be far enough along so that workers can move indoors when winter hits and finish the project.

The grounds are already being cleared for the new administrative offices and entrance on the north side of the building facing the Bigfork Senior Center on Commerce Street, and excavation for a classroom on the south side of the building along Grand Avenue began three weeks ago.

Work on the site includes adjusted approaches and accesses to the schools that should help alleviate some of the traffic pile-up on Commerce that occurs when school starts and ends each day, Kinzer said.

But with all of the construction surrounding the project, Bigfork could be in for a few headaches too.

For starters, the elementary school is off limits all summer and the high school is only open for BHS sports camps and a basketball camp sponsored by Trinity Lutheran Church. The main parking lot will be completely blocked off until fall and the upper lot will be mostly utilized as a staging area for construction, Kinzer said.

A good portion of the bus lot along Grand Avenue will remain available for overflow and oversize parking for downtown, but some of that area too will be taken up by construction.

"We know it's going to cause some inconveniences for the July 4 parade and the arts festival," Kinzer said. "But we just have no choice."

Bigfork Chamber of Commerce Director Bruce Solberg said the lack of lots would present a series of challenges for the summer.

"We'll have shuttles running for the arts festival," he said. "(But for July 4th) people will just have to fend for themselves."

Solberg said that instead of staging the parade at the high school parking lot, floats and participants would be lined up Commerce Street and possibly up the hill on Stage Ridge Road to the Lake View Care Center.

Anyone needing to access the high school for camps should park in the upper lot and walk across the street.