The Campus
The high school is located on the Harmony Road Campus, and was the first in the district’s campus concept idea. Due to the high school being located two miles west of the center of Huntley and the greatest concentration of student population, all students are required to take the bus, get a ride, or drive to school. However, because of the great space afforded in being located on a very large campus, the school has ample parking for students, staff, and for special events.
When the school was first built, it was completely surrounded by cornfields. However, in recent years, it has been surrounded by homes in Del Webb’s Sun City Huntley retirement community. Much of the surrounding area still remains rural, however.
The access road to the school is a long winding divided road separated by a large sloping grassy median. The road then comes to a T-intersection. On the west side is a lot for visitors and staff as well as pick-up/drop-off. On the east side is a road which winds around to student, staff, and special event lots, as well as the bus loading zones on the east side and rear of the building.
Leggee Elementary School, built in 2000, lies to the northwest of the building. An access road from the high school access road to the elementary school connects the two.
Due to the campus being located in an isolated area, everyone must drive to the school. A fleet of 50+ buses shuttles students from the sprawling district to the school, and due to the significant parking space, there are no quantity limitations on student parking. This causes significant backups before and after school and at special events. Mile-long backups and 30 minute travel times are not uncommon.
In addition, the rural roads were not designed to handle this traffic and the original road network contributed to a number of serious accidents over the years. The intersection of Marengo Road, Main Street, Harmony Road, and Hemmer Road was re-designed in 2001, primarily due to the many vehicle accidents that had occurred in the past, in addition to the presence of Del Webb’s Sun City development.
Read more about this topic: Huntley High School