Traffic study finds combined NAI/NASH high-school campus would overwhelm Perry Highway, moves plan off preferred list

Mr. Kirk, the district’s facilities presenter, told the North Allegheny School Board Aug. 7 that a traffic study for a possible combined 9–12 campus at the NAI site shows major operational failures on nearby public roads.

The analysis, which combined April 2024 counts at NAI with 2023 data from NASH, identified the southbound approach on Perry Highway at Cumberland Road as the most acute problem. "We would be looking at a 3,000 foot queue length in the morning hours," Kirk said, and the intersection’s level of service would fall from a C to an F without mitigation.

The engineers projected several turning lanes would exceed storage capacity and recommended extensive roadway work to mitigate the impacts: dual turning lanes, additional right-turn lanes, full signalization at intersections that are not signalized today, and slip lanes that would effectively add a third lane along stretches of Cumberland Road. Kirk said those changes make the combined-campus option “somewhat impractical” at present and moved it to the bottom of the district’s list of options.

District officials said the feasibility study originally presented five pathways: keep facilities as-is; renovate both NAI and NASH in place; build a new NAI and renovate NASH; build a combined 9–12 campus at the NASH site; and build a combined 9–12 campus at the NAI site. Previous work had already lowered the feasibility of the NASH-site combined option; the new NAI-site traffic findings pushed that combined-campus option further out of favor.

Facilities staff recommended the board pursue option 2—renovating both high schools—and form building-level steering committees and an executive steering committee to re-examine spatial programs, budgets and targeted geotechnical (subsoil) investigations. The administration said the next design-phase contracts could continue with Weber Murphy Fox and the traffic engineers, but the district expects to issue an RFP to decide final architects and engineering teams.

Board members acknowledged the study’s sobering findings while expressing disappointment that consolidation would not be immediately feasible. Several directors asked whether smaller, targeted improvements near school entrances could be achieved as part of campus renovations; staff said localized turning-lane or right-turn improvements near school driveways could be considered during renovation planning, but the large-scale queuing issues identified by the study would require off-site roadway construction beyond typical district authority.

The board accepted the presentation as information and directed staff to proceed with the recommended steering-committee structure and further technical investigations. The district will bring project-scoping updates to the board as the steering committees and subsequent engineering work proceed.