By Mindy Ragan Wood
Staff Writer
A private Canadian County road near a Piedmont elementary school will be closed to through traffic, Canadian County commissioners confirmed Tuesday.
The Northwood Lake housing addition has several entrances, but the home owner’s association will place a gate at Cemetery Road to the north of the community before the Oak Hill Drive intersection. The housing addition is located in Oklahoma City.
Cemetery Road is a back-roads route for many parents who pick up their children from Northwood Elementary School which is located on the northeast corner of State Highway 3 and Cemetery Road.
“This entrance is the only one with a gate at this time,” Canadian County Commissioner Marc Hader said. “There’s been a lot of traffic cutting through their private neighborhood to get to the elementary school. They’re not trying to create a hardship on anyone, but they have to maintain the roads and want to limit that. Police and fire will have a lock box so they can get a key to get through there.”
The private road runs through the neighborhood and is maintained by the home owner’s association. It also maintains a dam which is frequented by drivers crossing through the community. Reports from the Oklahoma Water Resources Board show the dam is well maintained and in good condition.
During Monday’s commission meeting, a public hearing was held for those who wanted to speak about the proposed road closure.
“Everyone who attended was in favor of it,” Hader said.
Commissioner Jack Stewart said he was not opposed to it.
“I asked a lot of questions because anytime you have something like this, there’s usually an opposite side that doesn’t want to do it. The main thing I was concerned about was that, because it’s Oklahoma City, but they told us they had Oklahoma City’s blessing on it,” Stewart said.
A call to homeowner’s association president Josh Layman was not returned at press time.
The closure of the school traffic will likely place more burden on Northwest Highway where more parents could be forced to park along the highway or shoulder.
State law prohibits parking on any state highway.
