Cherokee County students, teachers and parents thought they’d be facing a nightmare this morning after the closing of Huntington Drive was announced for the first day of school. But it now appears to be a bad dream, deferred.

“We had one of the business owners on Huntington Road (who) called to vigorously complain about the short notice given to him regarding the road closure,” said Dongee Lee, resident construction manager for the Hwy. 105 project. “We felt his complaint was well justified, and after a long discussion with the contractor, decided to postpone the closure at least a week.”

The project, whose goal is to widen the highway to five lanes, has been continuing for many months now due to delays from heavy rainfall.

“I know this untimely construction got many people worried,” Lee added. “And hopefully the extra week can provide some (relief) of the frustrations. We do take extra efforts to discuss all local events, especially school related, when planning for the construction. We did make huge progress this year towards the on-time completion goal of this November until the record rainfall this summer hit the area week after week. The attempt to close Huntington Road with the short notification was to expedite the progress before the school opening, although the start date got delayed again due to rain.”

Lee was aware that the project could be an inconvenience to the public and expressed his sympathy with having to live and work around the road closures and restrictions.

“Despite our honest efforts to please the public, we do sometimes unintentionally cause pain while carrying out our assigned tasks to complete the construction,” he said. “It is a growing pain that should not last too long. Just think about the new beautifully landscaped 5-lane highway in a few months from now.”