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Work has already begun at the Taconic High site.
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An illustration of the new school.

Taconic High School Groundbreaking Scheduled May 13

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The groundbreaking ceremony for the new Taconic High School project is scheduled for Friday, May 13.
 
The 3 p.m. ceremony will celebrate the start of construction on the $120.8 million new school. J.H. Maxymillian Inc. has already been working on the site as part of a number of early bids released. Gilbane Construction is the construction manager at risk, and will be heading the project and managing the subcontracting. 
 
The ground is being leveled where the new school will be located and an access road and parking lot is being created. The entire construction area will be fenced off.
 
Many of the current playing fields are in the planned construction area so sports have been moved off-site.
 
The project is being funded mostly through the Massachusetts School Building Authority, which is contributing up to $74.2 million. The MSBA has already placed the groundbreaking event on its calendar. 
 
The new building will be 246,520 square feet to accommodate 920 students. It will built over a two-year period across the driveway from the current building, which was constructed in 1969. That building will be razed. The new vocational technical school is eyed for opening for the 2018-19 school year. 
 
The School Building Needs Commission has been working with consultants Skanska USA and architects Drummey Rosane Anderson, Inc. In seeing the process through. On Monday, the School Building Needs Commission will hold its first full meeting in a few months — most of the work has been handled through subcommittees. 
 
The board is expected to authorize DRA to submit the 90 percent design drawings to the MSBA for review. There will only be minor work design-wise from then on and the construction can ramp up with more bid packages.
 
The project has been a long time in the making, dating back more than a decade. City officials had kicked around renovating one school to accommodate all high school students and had listed other elementary schools to be renovated. 
 
However, ultimately it was determined to focus on rebuilding Taconic. Many of the other city schools are in need of capital repairs, including Pittsfield High School. 
 
Superintendent Jason McCandless said recently that the city's Purchasing Department and Maintenance Department is working some "significant" upgrades to the PHS auditorium including the replacement of a fire curtain and is designing new theatrical lighting. The design for the lighting is about 30 percent complete, McCandless said.

Tags: MSBA,   Taconic High,   Taconic school project,   

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Traffic Commission OKs Additional Signage on Pecks Rd. Detour

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass.— The city will put additional safety measures on the Pecks Road detour.
 
The Traffic Commission approved a petition to install a reflective stop sign at the corner of Vin Hebert Boulevard and Onota Street and a reflective double arrow sign on an existing nearby guardrail.
 
At the Thursday meeting, Petitioner Joseph Cimini said it is "an accident waiting to happen."
 
"There's no street lights there. There's a little 12-by-12 detour sign saying ‘detour this way' but it definitely needs some lighting up," he said.
 
"Either a temporary stop sign or a regular stop sign with a reflective arrow going across the intersection going into each direction. I think it will be helpful before somebody gets hurt at that intersection."
 
This route became the detour to Valentine Road when the Pecks Road bridge abruptly closed over the summer following a failed MassDOT inspection. In January, the city communicated that the new bridge would be delivered this month and be installed over 2-5 weeks.
 
City Engineer Tyler Shedd thinks the stop sign is a good idea. He explained that before the detour, the neighborhood didn't see as much traffic.
 
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