Carlisle Area School District presents site, traffic and cost plan for proposed middle school; Act 34 hearing to be scheduled

Carlisle Area School District architects on Thursday outlined a proposed site plan, traffic improvements and cost estimate for a new middle school they propose to locate on the athletic fields between Wilson and the Turnpike.

The plan places the main entrance to the school facing east, separates bus and parent drop-off with a dedicated bus loop and a longer parent queuing loop, and preserves at least one recreational field to replace the three existing fields. Traffic consultant Jared Veil of Traffic Planning and Design (TPD) recommended two roundabouts—one at the Wagner’s Gap Road intersection and a second internal roundabout—to calm speeds and separate bus and passenger vehicle movements on campus.

The architects presented a total, all-in project estimate of about $98,000,000 for the middle-school program, which the team described as including building construction ($61,000,000), site work (about $7.5 million), and a $2.5 million allowance for the Wagner’s Gap roundabout. Scott Cousin of Crabtree Roebaugh & Associates said the district’s campus improvements subtotal is roughly $80.8 million and campus-wide site work is about $4.6 million; the all-inclusive total shown to the board was $98,000,000. Grace Hyland, senior project manager with Crabtree Roebaugh & Associates, said, “When you include the project soft costs, fees, and furnishings and equipment ... the total is $98,000,000.”

On safety and operations, TPD’s Veil told the board that roundabouts are intended to both increase capacity during peak school periods and reduce crash severity: “There is a 75 percent reduction in injury crashes” after construction of a roundabout compared with a signalized intersection, and “a 30 to 40 percent reduction in pedestrian injuries,” he said. Veil also said roundabouts tend to increase intersection capacity by about 30 percent compared with traffic signals for the brief, high-concentration peak periods typical of school drop-off/pick-up.

Architects said the design places noisy, high-activity spaces (auditorium, gyms, loading) toward the Turnpike and orients the two-story academic wing away from traffic. The team confirmed acoustic design work is under way and that a vegetated berm will be installed along the Turnpike to help with visual and noise buffering.

The board president, Colleen Bussard, told the public the next formal step is administrative: at the board’s regularly scheduled meeting next week the board will be asked to approve issuing the public notice and the Act 34 booklet required by Pennsylvania’s school construction review process. The project team explained the Act 34 process to the meeting: the district must publish a booklet that describes options considered, a cost breakout and a maximum building construction cost that is used to compare bids; the firm said the Act 34 “maximum building construction cost” being proposed for the middle school portion is $76,500,000. The architects cautioned that if bids exceed that maximum by more than the statutorily allowed margin the district may need to hold a second Act 34 hearing.

Timeline and approvals: the architects said design documents are moving from design development into construction documents and they expect to advertise the middle-school project for bid in January–February of the next calendar year, with a target of opening the new middle school in 2028. The Wagner’s Gap roundabout will require a PennDOT highway-permit process (scoping, traffic study, design) the team said could proceed in parallel and take longer than municipal permitting; the team proposed splitting the PennDOT work from the district’s site permitting so construction can proceed on schedule.

Board members and residents raised questions about construction staging, athletic-field relocations, stormwater management and pedestrian connections; members of the public asked about roundabout sightlines near the Turnpike bridge and about whether PennDOT would accept a roundabout at the proposed location. The project team said PennDOT typically requires a scoping meeting and that the agency asks districts to evaluate roundabout alternatives before defaulting to signalization. Jared Veil said approach geometry and deflection will be designed to reduce approach speeds from higher travel speeds down to about 20 mph at the roundabout.

The presentation also covered building program features: an auditorium (approximate seating cited at about 500), two gyms divided by an operable partition to create larger event space, a cafeteria adjacent to the commons, a two-story academic wing with grade-level separation and an area reserved for future classroom addition. The team said classroom, mechanical and site design decisions have been coordinated with program supervisors and department chairs.

What’s next: the board will be asked at its next regular meeting to approve publishing the Act 34 notice and booklet for the middle-school project. The architects and traffic consultants will continue with construction documents, municipal land-development approvals and PennDOT coordination.