By Kamryn Mendoza from everythinglubbock.com
As the school year winds down, there may be some detours and delays for Lubbock-Cooper ISD parents and students on their commute during the last week of school.
LCISD superintendent, Keith Bryant, said they have been keeping parents updated on the closure of Loop 493 off of Highway 87 for the past few weeks. Bryant said the closures are a part of the Woodrow Road expansion project.
“We simply have been communicating that to our parents to make them aware to alter travel plans, we’re certainly concerned about the intersection of Highway 87 and 493,” Bryant said.
Bryant said recent weather events and complications with construction have caused timelines to shift for the Loop 493 closure. He said the district was told by the Texas Department of Transportation this past weekend that the closure would happen sometime this week.
TXDOT crews were seen closing the road Monday afternoon.
“What we’ve asked our parents to do is just to keep their own students’ safety and other students’ safety at the forefront of their minds and they’ve done a great job with that,” Bryant said.
With a few days of school left, the district wants drivers to keep a few things in mind during pick-up and drop-offs.
Bryant asked parents not to drop their students off along Woodrow or Loop 493 and for walkers to cross at the only safe crosswalk at the intersection of County Road 2330 and Woodrow Rd, where they have a crossing guard each morning and afternoon.
Buses will also take a different route to avoid Loop 493 as well. Bryant said their route takes them through Cooper Ranch to avoid the shutdown of Loop 493.
Bryant said their parents and students have done a great job at navigating the construction and closures that have been brought on by the Woodrow project since the beginning.
While they don’t have exact dates on when Loop 493 will reopen, Bryant said they will continue to keep families updated.