AGAWAM — The start of Phase 1 for the new Agawam High School is fast approaching, which means school and city officials are gearing up for what will be a busy spring.
School Superintendent Sheila Martin told the School Committee during its Jan. 28 meeting that staging for Phase 1 of the project is expected to begin in April and construction is projected to begin in June.
With that in mind, Martin said that parking, spring sports and traffic routes will be impacted starting in April.
“Approximately 100 parking spaces will be lost due to the construction site, and parent and bus drop-off and pickup will be rerouted,” Martin said.
Additionally, both lacrosse programs will share the turf field for practices throughout the season and some of the home softball games will move to Borgatti to accommodate the Phase 1 construction process.
Martin also noted that grass fields will be available at the Agawam Junior High School for practice when there is home events scheduled.
She said high school families will receive regular updates about spring happenings as things evolve.
“All of this information will be going out to high school families, in particular, more regularly,” Martin said during the meeting.
Reminder Publishing reported in December that Phase 1 of the project involves construction of the community wing next to the existing building, overlapping the soccer field. The fields to the left of the high school will be used as staging areas for construction and, for heating — the building will be fully heated and air conditioned — geothermal wells will be drilled in the rear corner of the site, opposite the baseball field.
Phase 2, meanwhile, is set to begin in January 2027, which includes the demolition of the current gymnasium and cafeteria for the installation of a new academic wing in its place. A new parking lot will also be created between the newly built community wing and track, but there will be less parking, which means student parking passes will either be eliminated or drastically reduced.
Also in this phase, the industrial arts wing will be extended and become an early childhood center with 10 classrooms and the early childhood center will have a dedicated parent drop-off area, its own parking and a preschool playground.
Phase 3 will occur right after and involve the remainder of the demolition to the building and landscaping.
The new high school, which will be 211,000 square feet, is expected to be completed by November 2028.
During the Jan. 28 meeting, Mayor Christopher Johnson said that the city has completed the design development phase for the project and is now moving into the construction document phase. He said that the city plans to go in front of the Planning Board at their first meeting in March to get a site plan approval for the project.
Readers can learn more about the Agawam High School project by visiting prior Reminder Publishing coverage: tinyurl.com/4rfkm7kc.
Readers can also stay updated by visiting the project website, agawamhsproject.com.
