The Moline School District held the groundbreaking for the $17 million Hamilton expansion project on Wednesday, May 7, 2014.
The groundbreaking comes just one day after the district held an informational meeting for residents who live near Hamilton School, on 7th Street and 32nd Avenue in Moline. Hamilton will quadruple in size during the 2015-2016 school year. It will soon have about 600 students, partly because of Garfield and Ericsson schools closing after the 2014-2015 school year.
Neighbors say they are still concerned about the traffic along 7th Street. They shared their opinions with the school district on Tuesday, May 6, 2014.
"We're trying to get a run down of what they plan," Moline resident David Coene said. "I have a feeling that they kind of got the cart before the horse. They were worried about the consolidation, but they've kind of ignored the neighborhood."
Crews will be building an access road to the school that runs parallel to 7th Street to ease some of those traffic concerns. The last attendance day for the old Hamilton school is Monday, June 2nd, 2014.