The main entrance to the Mars Area Middle School campus has moved to along Davidson Road at its intersection with Meredith Drive.

The driveway was relocated to accommodate the planned Pennsylvania Department of Transportation project to widen Route 228 and the realignment of the road’s intersection with Three Degree Road. The road will serve as the primary access to the Mars Area Middle School campus and Mars Athletic Complex.

According to an announcement from Mars Area, the PennDOT project will necessitate the closure of the current entrance to the Middle School campus along Three Degree Road.

“The process is easy — it's the same way you go to access (Mars Area Centennial School),” said Christina Smith, Mars’ director of transportation. “You’re just going to make a right onto the access road before you go to Meredith Drive. Parents who are used to the Centennial entrance, it will be the same for the middle school. You’ll see the field as you approach on your right, and then the access road is right there."

Moving forward, vehicles will not be permitted to make left turns from the middle school parking areas onto Three Degree Road. Instead, vehicles planning to access Three Degree Road will need to do so via the new driveway and Davidson Road. The right-in/right-out along Route 228 will remain in place, but the access point may be restricted when construction on Route 228 eventually begins.

Parents and guardians who drop off or pick up their children at the middle school will now do so at the student drop-off area at the front of the building, near the Mars Athletic Complex.

Smith expects that the change will not have a long-term impact on pickup or drop-off times.

“I think it will take maybe a couple of days for parents to get used to the new traffic patterns, but once they see how it works, I don’t anticipate it causing many delays,” Smith said. “It may for the first couple of days, but once they get into the habit, I think it will be fine."

Signage has been put up to guide drivers to the middle school’s main access driveway and address new traffic restrictions. Staff members will be posted around the school’s campus to assist with directing traffic at the start of the school year.

Smith hopes to get the word out about the change so that parents are not confused.

“The problem is going to be getting used to it, because parents are used to doing it how they have been doing it,” she said. “Any traffic coming up Three Degree Road headed towards (Route) 228 on that middle school side, once they pass Davidson Road, they’re not going to be able to make that left, and they won’t know until they get up there. That's why communication is so important to let them know.”