New parking spaces at KW ease neighbors’ complaints
CASPER, Wyo. — Kelly Walsh High School Principal Michael Britt is cautiously optimistic that the 164 new parking spaces added to the high school’s parking lot over the summer are the neighborly fix people have been looking for.
“This is working better than we’d hoped,” Britt said while giving the Natrona County School District Board of Trustees a tour of the campus on Monday to highlight areas considered for capital improvements in the KWHS Site Master Plan draft.
35 days into the school year, Britt said he’s yet to get one call from people in the neighborhood complaining about students taking up parking along the neighborhood streets. He used to get multiple calls a day during the first few weeks of the school year since his tenure began at KW six years ago.
Concerns about traffic flow and student safety, particularly during the start and end of the school day, are facets of the master plan, which also includes proposed improvements to the stadium and athletics complex. Britt said the new parking spaces are taking care of more of those concerns than expected.
There is also a new exit from those parking spaces into the bus lane, which exits onto Walsh Drive. It’s blocked by cones to accommodate the buses at the end of the day, but those are cleared away to allow traffic to flow by 17 minutes after the closing bell. Britt also said the city has “added 15 seconds” to the stoplight at 12th and Walsh streets to accommodate traffic flow.