An unsafe passageway behind Haines School may lead the Haines Borough to extend Fifth Avenue.

Public facilities director Brad Ryan asked the school board last week for a letter of approval to forward to the Planning Commission to extend the roadway in order to make traffic flow more smoothly and safely down the one-way alley behind the school. Fifth Avenue, next to the Aspen Suites Hotel, would be a two-way street.

“We think opening up Fifth Avenue would help traffic flow and maybe even help some of the safety issues with people not obeying the one-way sign behind the school,” Ryan said.

Borough manager Debra Schnabel reported the expansion to the assembly at its Tuesday meeting. Several assembly members questioned the expansion and wanted more information such as cost. The assembly did not endorse the idea.

Board president Anne Marie Palmieri said the idea came up at a major maintenance meeting in June when former superintendent Tony Habra suggested attaching a mirror to the building so cars, walkers or bikers could see around the building.

Palmieri said the area can be dangerous when the parking lot is congested during school events like basketball games or swim meets. Art teacher Linnus Danner was hit by a car on her bike several years ago in the alley and broke her femur in the accident.

“That was the question: How can we make this area safer?” Palmieri said.

“I always questioned why we didn’t open it up when we built…It just seems like a no brainer to me,” said board member Sarah Swinton.

Ryan said this idea seemed the most plausible, as opposed to widening the alley. He said he wasn’t sure how much of the area along the alley the school owned and that a survey of the land could be expensive.

Ryan said the borough has a roads CIP capital fund to pay for the Fifth Avenue extension. He also would need to arrange snow removal on the extended road with the state Department of Transportation.

At the request of board member Sara Chapell, Ryan said he would bring a sketch of how the extended road would look and how traffic would flow to the next meeting.