Crews in Owensboro are closing Goetz Drive, for about 45 days, to continue work on the Southtown Boulevard project.
Transportation officials say access to schools in the area may be impacted, and residents say they're worried about how they may be affected as well.
Heather Chubb and Jaime Beatty both live just off of Goetz Drive. They predict that this closure will have some impacts for the neighborhood and drivers.
"I believe it will cause traffic problems," Chubb said. "There are two huge schools, and there's a lot of traffic in the mornings and in the afternoons, and I don't know where the traffic's going to be able to deviate to."
"Southtown is already congested as it is and most people have been using Goetz drive to kind of try to get away, get around all this traffic," said Beatty.
Baetty says the fact that the bus garage for the school district is located on the street might make the situation interesting as well.
"I think that there might be longer waits to even get through all the traffic because of all the, you know, the school buses and stuff will be probably holding up a lot of the traffic," said Baetty.
Dane Ferguson is the Principal at Burns Middle School and wants to make sure parents are prepared.
"Be prepared for delays, be prepared for longer lines every once in a while," Ferguson told 14 News. "Think about when they're leaving home, maybe want to leave home a little bit early."
Despite the temporary inconvenience, many are looking forward to the end result.
"We know it's going to be a lot better and a lot safer and a lot more effective and efficient," Ferguson said.
"We see numerous accidents on Southtown, and I think with more lanes it will be a safer road," said Chubbs.
The entire Southtown project is expected to be complete by mid-2013.
Crews will be constructing a reinforced concrete box culvert.
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