The bell rings, and you sprint to your car to try to get ahead of the school traffic, but somehow still end up being in the back of the line waiting forever to get out of the parking lot. But you’re in luck—Loudoun County is investing 3.2 million dollars into a new road to improve transportation into Woodgrove High School and Mountain View Elementary School. The county will be paying for a two lane road that will act as an entrance and exit for Woodgrove’s campus.
The new entrance has been a long awaited arrival at Woodgrove. The project originated in 2011-2012 when Dr. William Shipp, Woodgrove’s Principal, sat down with the Board of Supervisors to discuss plans to pave Allder School Road, which was completed in June of 2017. Shipp explained, “The second project was the second entrance into Woodgrove that was supposed to be done right around 2022-2023 or 2023-2024.” However, Shipp highlighted the issues with the original plan to add the second entrance into the school. He said, “The first initial plan where the road was going to come out on Hillsboro Road was too close to the entrances planned for Route 7, so they had to revamp all of their plans, which then delayed it.”
The new road will provide a second entrance and exit for Woodgrove. Because of this second outlet, school afternoon traffic will supposedly be reduced, which will help students get off of school campus efficiently and safely. One new safety hazard is for students who walk to school, as they will have to cross this new road in order to get to school. Another new issue is that the school now has an entire new outlet to overlook and protect students from potential problems.
“Even though the new road may bring some problems with it, overall, the road will be positive for our school,” Vice Principal Mr. Matthew Swartz remarked. Students will not be sitting in traffic for 30 minutes after the final bell, and they will be able to evacuate the school faster now in the case of an emergency.
A retention pond is a necessity for this new construction, because the paved road will increase water runoff significantly, which is why the pond was significantly increased in size to help with environmental drawbacks of runoff. Shipp explained that the retention pond was supposed to be completed on August 22, 2024. Obviously, it has yet to be completed, but he expressed his confidence that the retention pond will be done by November, hopefully in time for the Marching Wolverines to return to their practice location.
With the retention pond construction wrapping up, Shipp emphasized that the new entrance construction is supposed to be done at the end of the calendar year, but he is not holding his breath. However, hopefully before graduation, Woodgrove seniors can sprint to their cars and drive out of the new exit.