Photo by Deb Gau Erika Coudron of R and G Construction greets Marshall students as they walked and biked home from school. R and G crews marked out a path with traffic cones, so kids could safely cross the construction zone at the intersection of West College Drive (Highway 19) and Saratoga Street.

MARSHALL — Each day before and after school this week, Erika Coudron with R and G Construction has been marking out a path of traffic cones to let kids cross College Drive.

The start of the school year in Marshall has meant some adjustments for construction work on West College Drive, representatives of R and G Construction said Thursday.

“How was school?” Coudron asked as she greeted a group of Marshall students who were walking home along Saratoga Street Thursday afternoon.

At a Highway 19 construction update meeting Thursday, Coudron said R and G crews were getting students used to taking a path following the sidewalk on the north side of Saratoga Street.

“We have it delineated with cones, so people can cross using that north side,” she said. “That’s how we’re getting all the kids every morning and afternoon.”

Tricia Stelter, director of operations at Marshall Public Schools, said things went well for the district and R and G to work together to figure out crossing safety and transportation issues during the first week of school. Southwest Coaches had also worked to find alternate bus routes around the construction zone, she said.

“Thank you for helping (students) cross the street, and working that out,” Stelter told R and G representatives during the update meeting. “It’s just that we have so many kids riding bike and walking, especially at this time of year, that student safety is my number one priority.” She said MPS also has several crossing guards in the area around Marshall Middle School and Southview Drive.

“My concern is just mainly right in front of the middle school there because Southview and Saratoga is already so congested, and then we try to get the buses through by 8 a.m.,” Stelter said. She thanked R and G for having truck drivers avoid Saratoga Street during high-traffic hours before and after school.

Work was continuing to make progress along active parts of the Highway 19 project, Scott Mathiowetz of R and G said in a Thursday construction update. Surveyors were staking out curbs in an area from Greeley Street down to where a new roundabout is being built, near the National Guard Armory.

Work to patch the new concrete roadway on Highway 19 into cross streets like Saratoga Street will also start soon.

“They’ll be in hopefully early next week to start patching in Saratoga, and we’ll try to get that (intersection) back open,” Mathiowetz said. The asphalt work would have to wait until electric sensors are installed for stop lights at the Saratoga/Highway 19 intersection, he said.

Coudron said the vertical part of the stop lights were being installed Thursday.

The goal would be to have a “stop and go” intersection at Saratoga, so traffic could cross Highway 19, Mathiowetz said. When that intersection opens, up the crossing at Greeley Street would likely close, he said.