Construction impedes traffic

BY VICTORIA MOORE
Traffic on College Avenue will be delayed on Monday, Feb. 24 due to construction of the new Student Center. The delay will be caused by the delivery of the crane for the construction. The original delivery was going to take place on Feb. 19, but the winter weather pushed back the delivery.
“There will be markedly more tractor-trailer units on College Ave. with the arrival of a large crane carried in pieces on nine trailers,” said Les Johnson, the Capital Outlay project manager.
Traffic on College Avenue will also be affected by the delivery of various construction materials. However, there will not be any road closures.
“Traffic will only be impacted as trailers arrive and leave the construction site. Trailer length makes turning impossible unless traffic is halted for the time necessary to enter and exit,” said Johnson. “This will rarely be longer than five minutes per trailer and likely not more than four trailers per day except for the crane, of course.”
The delays are expected to minimally impact students.
“When they close off the [construction] gate it makes it harder to get to class. It’s not too bad. I can just walk on the other side of the street,” said junior Teresa Fenn.
According to Johnson, after the crane is delivered, structural steel framing deliveries will take place two to three times a week. The number of trailers making deliveries will decrease after 13 weeks, but a few will still come throughout the year.
“I find the fence very inconveniencing with the limits to where you can cross the road. [The construction is] not too bad except for the noise,” said junior Ike Copperthite.
This is not the first time construction has interrupted traffic on College Avenue, and it may not be the last.
Construction of the Student Center will continue all year, is expected to be completed by the fall of 2015.
“The construction management team will inform us of changes so that the University can inform our community and the neighborhood,” said Johnson.