New traffic patterns at the Northampton Area School District will start this fall and continue for approximately two years.

The new traffic flow is the result of the $80.7-million Northampton Area Middle School and Secondary Campus Renovation Project.

NASD Superintendent Joseph Kovalchik announced at Monday night's school board meeting that maps and information about the traffic patterns are expected to be available the first week of August on the district website.

Kovalchik will also inform parents via ParentLink and Blackboard, which are district email and texting communication systems.

A presentation on the new campus traffic pattern is expected to be on the agenda of the first school board meeting in August.

New traffic patterns begin with the 2013-14 school year and are expected to continue through the 2014-15 school year. Here is a summation of the new patterns, first, for the start of the school day:

Staff: High school and middle school staff will use North Lane, the campus road off Laubach Avenue on the north side of the campus. They will park their vehicles in the lot at the back of the high school and along Konkrete Lane between the high school and middle school.

Other middle school staff will use the Community Center entrance road and park their vehicles in the borough swimming pool parking lot.

Staff are to arrive by 7:09 a.m. Staff will display orange placards on vehicle rear-view mirrors for the high school and middle school lots and blue placards for the borough lot.

Students: Students in good standing (seniors with favorable academic and discipline records) will use North Lane and park their vehicles in the front lot (closest to Laubach Avenue) in front of the high school. Students are to arrive by 7:30 a.m. Students will display orange placards on vehicle rear-view mirrors.

Parents: Parents of high school and middle school students are to use North Lane and drop off students in front of the high school. They will return to Laubach Avenue via North Lane.

Buses: Smith Lane and the new Stadium Drive will be used for bus traffic. Buses arrive at approximately 7 a.m.

At the end of the school day, the following traffic patterns apply:

Staff: Vehicles are to exit via Stadium Drive.

Students: If students have a final period study hall and are in good standing, they may depart at 1:45 p.m., exiting on North Lane to Laubach Avenue.

Buses: After the buses are parked in front of the high school and students board, with middle school students using the school's side entrance, South Lane will be used to exit with right turns made onto Laubach Avenue.

Kovalchik asked Christopher W. Haller, D'Huy Engineering Inc. project engineer, if the revamped Stadium Drive would be completed in time for fall classes.

"It's going to be well before teachers and students arrive," Haller said.

The new Stadium Drive is expected to be finished by the end of the month, about two weeks before the mid-August target date.

Curbs were to have been poured July 10 with sidewalks installation to follow.

Kovalchik said that as many as 15 staffers are expected to augment two police officers and six security personnel to direct campus traffic.

Areas will be roped off for students to cross the high school front parking lot.

"We actually think once we get the hang of this, it's going to be better. You have a clear separation of cars and buses," Kovalchik said.

"I'm sure the first few days, people will get a little excited because it's going to be new," said Kovalchik.

"I think right now it's a solid plan," he continued. "We have to come up with names for these roads."

Haller and Jay Clough, principal, KCBA Architects, project architecture firm, said that the steel superstructure for the middle school is expected to be placed in October or November.

Clough emphasized that because of the school's predominantly masonry construction, "You're going to see a lot of building before you see the first beam."

Haller said footers for the building are expected to be started to be installed next week.

Haller said the contract calling for the contractor to remove boulders and concrete from the construction site is proving to be a good idea because 10 boulders, each the size of a conference table, have been already removed from the site.

The vo-tech site has been graded and paved for use as a staging area. It will later be a parking lot.

Excavation for the middle school three-story wing is under way.

"They are moving a whole lot of dirt," Haller said.

Kovalchik noted that the Northampton Area High School "Konkrete Kids" varsity football team will play its six "home" games at the Nazareth Area School District Stadium because of construction work at and around the Al Erdosy Memorial Stadium.

Four of those games will take place on Friday nights and two will be held on Saturday nights.

"We took our concession stand to [the] Nazareth [stadium] so that the Booster Club [members] have storage and don't have to run back and forth," Kovalchik said.