Construction of a seventh high school in North Carolina's Alamance-Burlington School System (ABSS) is moving ahead of schedule, meaning that it will likely meet its August 2023 opening, The Alamance News reported Jan. 6.

The new $67 million school is being built on 96 acres at 3368 S. NC Highway 119, across from a Honda Power Equipment manufacturing plant in Swepsonville, approximately 26 mi. east of Greensboro.

ABSS Assistant Superintendent Todd Thorpe told the Graham-based newspaper Jan. 3 that the school's athletic stadium is complete, and the track has been stoned. Steel also has been erected for one classroom building, he said, adding that the walls for the gym are nearing completion, as are curb and guttering throughout the site.

While the cost to build the 221,000-sq.- ft. high school was originally estimated at $67 million, ABSS asked Alamance County Commissioners in April 2021 to release an additional $5.2 million in capital reserve funding to pay for construction upgrades for the new facility, or "preferred alternates," that were not included in the original scope of work.

Additionally, ABSS requested another $9.6 million, with approximately $4.4 million to be used for routine repairs at several other schools.

The "preferred alternates" that Thorpe outlined for school board members at the time — and later, the county commissioners — included a vocational building, LED lighting for tennis courts and soccer fields, motorized bleachers in an auxiliary gym, polished concrete on the first and second floors of the classroom buildings, reinforced doors, PVC roofing and roadwork.

County commissioners subsequently voted 4-1 to release the additional funding to ABSS last spring

Approximately $2.2 million of the secured school funding also was designated for road improvements required by the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), Thorpe told both boards last spring.

Those upgrades along NC 119 are now finished, The Alamance News reported.

They included construction of a turn lane at the main entrance to the school site, with 300 ft. for the queuing of vehicles in the car rider lane, noted Chuck Edwards Jr., the NCDOT division engineer of Alamance and Orange counties, in an earlier interview with the newspaper.

Once the project is completed, the as-yet-unnamed high school will have classroom capacity for 1,250 students, though the gym and cafeteria will be able to accommodate up to 1,500 students, based on schematic design plans previously presented to Alamance-Burlington School Board members.

The body voted in late 2019 to hire Greensboro-based Samet Corporation as the construction-manager-at-risk to ensure that construction of the new high school is completed on time and on budget.

The News reported that the lion's share of the cost to build the high school is being funded by a $150 million bond package that county voters approved for ABSS in November 2018. The bonds for the new high school were sold last April, and construction began in May.

The annual cost to operate the county's seventh high school is estimated at $1.75 million, effective with the 2023-24 fiscal year, based on preliminary budget figures developed by ABSS and county government officials.

To get the new high school ready in time for the 2023-24 academic year, its completion is currently targeted for April 2023.

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