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Buchanan County breaks ground on consolidated Southern Gap High School; officials cite long planning, federal support
Summary
Officials, federal engineers and the school board marked the Southern Gap High School groundbreaking and heard a construction update: site grading, utility work and concrete slabs are complete for much of the first floor; officials said federal programs and intergovernmental collaboration made the consolidation possible.
Buchanan County Public Schools on the evening of the board meeting marked the ceremonial groundbreaking for the consolidated Southern Gap High School and received a detailed construction update showing the project is well under way.
"This has been a long journey," said Angie McClanahan, chairperson of the Buchanan County Public Schools Board, thanking intergovernmental partners and community members for the work that made the project possible. Sherry Fletcher, who emceed the ceremony, traced the project’s federal connections to flood-response planning, citing federal authorizations enacted after the April 1977 flood and more recent disaster-relief appropriations that enabled site relocation and construction planning.
Curtis Saleslake, project manager for contractor Skanska, said the team has completed rough grading, put conduit for electrical and communications in the ground, poured all first-floor concrete slabs and begun portions of second-floor deck pours. "We have started mechanical, electrical, plumbing rough-ins," Saleslake said, listing masonry work rising at the auditorium and gym and steel setting in the central portions of the school. He previewed drone footage and progress photos that show the building footprint and early site amenities.
Colonel Jason Putman of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who was listed among the guests and speakers, said the project reflects a multiagency effort that resulted from prior flood-mitigation work in the region. He described Section 202-related planning and the later supplemental appropriations that allowed completion of flood-risk measures and opened the path for the consolidated school site at Southern Gap.
Project partners and representatives from federal and state legislative offices attended and offered remarks; a flag flown at the U.S. Capitol was presented to a Corps project manager in recognition of the manager’s role. Contractor and design team members from Skanska, Branch Fields and BMDO Architects were also acknowledged for daily coordination and oversight.
Officials said the next construction milestones include completing the main water line, stormwater piping on site, framing and continuing above-ceiling mechanical, electrical and plumbing work. No final opening date was announced at the meeting; project videos shown in the presentation were dated about two weeks prior to the meeting.
The board thanked community volunteers and students who participated in elements of the ceremony and art-related projects tied to the campus. The meeting proceeded afterward to the board’s regular agenda.
