Traffic is expected to be heavy Monday morning as Troy city schools welcome students back to classrooms. But Tuesday, the Troy Police Department is urging motorists to use even more caution.

“There will be a high volume of truck traffic beginning at 6 a.m. each day,” said Troy Police Sgt. Benny Scarbrough.

Dump trucks will begin hauling dirt on Tuesday from a pit east of Barron Road on Elm Street. The route takes the trucks from Elm Street, down George Wallace Drive and ends where Troy University’s new intramural and practice fields will be on McKinley Drive. The University has closed McKinley from the entrance of Trojan Arena to George Wallace.

“We’re asking everyone to use extreme caution when traveling these areas,” Scarbrough said. “Expect delays when dropping students off at schools. We appreciate the cooperation of all motorists when it comes to keeping kids safe.”

Construction crews will be moving about 290,000 cubic yards of dirt to the site of the new fields over a period of 54 working days, some of which will include Saturdays.

About 15 trucks are expected to make three trips each during an hour, which means about 90 movements on city roads each 60 minutes.

“There’s going to be a lot of vehicular traffic,” Scarbrough said. “There’s going to be a lot of stopping and starting. Please be patient and cautious.”

Mayor Jimmy Lunsford told city council members during a work session Tuesday that more police officers would be patrolling the area near the construction site and an extra school crossing guard was being employed due to the heavy traffic.

“There are some kids that walk to school each day,” Scarbrough said.

“We caution and pedestrian traffic to be aware and cross only at designated areas.”