ADAMS TWP — Discussions over the safety and placement of a public access road near Mars Primary Center are expected to continue after school officials raised concerns earlier this week.

During Tuesday's Mars School Board meeting, members raised concerns that a proposed public access road starting at Brickyard Road and cutting across the school's lawn would be 28 feet from the main entrance. School board members and district officials said they consider the project a major safety issue. They added the initial drawings of the plan were unclear about the road's placement, and they fear it will become a heavily traveled alternative to Route 228.

A major widening project is scheduled to occur there in the coming years.

The plan currently calls for the access road to end in the MHY Family Services property, which sits next to the Mars campus. However, school officials said they worry the proposed road could eventually be extended to Three Degree Road and become a major throughway.

On Thursday, Jamie Arehart, community relations coordinator for PennDOT District 10, said officials are willing to continue discussions on the projects.

“PennDOT has been in communication with the school district, Adams Township and other affected stakeholders,” Arehart said. “We are continuing to investigate alternatives to provide reasonable access to the properties adjacent to the project.”

Meanwhile, MHY Family Services Executive Director Lisa Schiller said the organization has been working with PennDOT on the project for about two years. She said MHY officials met several times with both PennDOT and township officials.

She addressed concerns over what would be the entrance and exit to the property, as the current means of entering the campus will become part of the 228 expansion. She said there was also consideration given to emergency vehicle access to the campus.

“They have been very receptive to what our needs are,” she said.

Schiller said she hopes north and south entrances can be added at Three Degree Road, but details still need to be ironed out. She added that the Brickyard Street extension would allow entrance from the east and west.

She said the organization also had concerns over the closeness of the road extension to the campus, particularly to students in the Longmore Academy. However, she said PennDOT has offered to work on landscaping and other environmental measures to keep traffic on the road.

She said the organization has also been in talks with township officials about keeping a 25 mph speed limit on the extension as well as the idea of installing speed humps to slow traffic down.

“We want to work in partnership and figure out how we all use this in the safest way possible,” Schiller said.