The City of Newcastle gave its approval for a new school zone subject to the Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s approval on State Highway 76 for Shiloh Christian Academy at Woodland Hills Baptist Church.
Councilman Mike Fullerton said the traffic counts in the area are very high and the speed is also high, and ignored a lot of times. He said there is a 10-year study which shows there have been 540 accidents on SH-76 and eight of those resulted in death.
The new school zone would be between the north side of the H.E.Bailey Turnpike bridge extending south.
Head of School at Shiloh Christian Academy, Cindy Shaw, said the school currently has 104 cars arriving and leaving in about a 10-15 minute period. She said the school has an area for cars to pull off, but the problem is access on and off the highway. Parent Jennifer Kirby said it is scary driving down SH-76, and she has contacted State Senator Jessica Garvin’s office about the issue, and the senator said she would talk to ODOT.
