MEADOW BRIDGE, WV (WOAY) – The Fayette County Board of Education, the School Building Authority and other regional dignitaries are grabbing their shovels and hard hats for the official groundbreaking of the new Meadow Bridge Regional PK-12 School.
After recognizing the need for the new school and starting the beginning phases of the project over 10 years ago, those involved are happy to see it finally coming to fruition.
“It’s always nerve-racking, but I’m ready to get this project going, I think everybody in Fayette County is ready to get this project going,” says Ben Ashley, Director of Architecture Services for School Building Authority.
After building and making renovations on other schools in Fayette County, some project revisions, and the second round of bids to start construction on the project, the wait of getting the new school off the ground is finally here, and it will take three phases to complete.
Phase 1 will center around the construction of the high school and making renovations on the existing gym, the only part of the current school that will remain.
“When it’s done this facility will attract people from all over the state to come and see the improvements that have been made, students being ready to adjust and go to school here, so it’s a major project for this area,” Ashley says.
Phase 2 of the $20 million dollar project will include tearing down the existing high school and building the new elementary school in that spot, while Phase 3 will focus on on-site cleanup. And, when it’s all done, the PK-12 will be connected into one big unit.
“I believe this with all of my will and being, that there was divine intervention to have positive things happen in Fayette County,” says Vice President of Fayette County Board of Education, Stephen Slockett.
Swope and Danhill Construction are the first bidders involved in building Phase 1 of the project.
The School Building Authority expects the project to take another two years to finish, and anticipates it being ready for use by the beginning of the 2023 school term.
