Traverse City West Middle SchoolTraverse City, Michigan

Traverse City’s West Middle School was constructed in the 1970s. Its campus contains the middle school and athletic fields on an 80 acre hillside site. Access to the site was encumbered by increasing traffic on the adjacent county road and terrain that restricted driveway placement. School bus circulation on the site was poor. In addition, pedestrian circulation, outdoor amenities, and landscaping on the campus needed improvement.

Gosling Czubak created a new road access to the school for buses and automobiles, to improve pedestrian circulation, and create outdoor spaces for students around the school building. Civil engineers and landscape architects worked closely with TCAPS officials to develop a workable, affordable, and expedient improvements to the West Middle School campus. The design effort included low impact development techniques for managing stormwater runoff. Landscaping enhancements help establish a setting for the campus that blending it with the semi-rural setting of the school.

The project had a fast-track construction schedule demanding that construction begin after the end of the school year in June and had the new roads, parking improvements and pedestrian areas complete before school reopened in late August. In addition to the design and permitting services, Gosling Czubak also provided construction staking and construction materials testing for the project.