Established 1826 — Oldest College Newspaper West of the Alleghenies

Construction blocks traffic on Campus Ave

Lorraine Boissoneault

The construction that has kept students from driving down Campus Avenue this week will continue into next week and will be finished sometime between Dec. 14 and 18.

"Right now what they're doing is they're connecting the utilities (for a new building development) to the existing utilities," said Scott Otto, who works in the engineering division for the city of Oxford.

Otto said there would be more construction in the coming months and there is a possibility Campus Avenue might be blocked off again.

"They're going to extend Rose Avenue out to Campus Avenue and build a few houses and apartment buildings," Otto said. "I believe (the buildings) are duplex-type structures, maybe two or three stories."

The general contractor for the construction project is Schumacher Dugan Construction and Otto said he believed they hope to finish construction by the beginning of the fall 2010 semester.

"There's not a completion date on it right now," Otto said. "They want to get it done as soon as they can because when they get the road that far along, then they can actually drive on it. Then they can really get moving on the buildings."

The current roadblocks are admittedly an inconvenience, Otto said.

"I would say it is an inconvenience, especially with all the events that go on at the ice center and the Rec(reational Sports) Center, but they're going to try and get out of there as soon as they can," Otto said. "It's just something people have to deal with."

In the meantime, detours have been set up to allow drivers to get where they need to go. Most are directed to Oak Street, where they can get to Spring Street or Chestnut Street. Along with cars, the Miami Metro bus route has also been changed to get around the construction.

"We re-routed the yellow route to get around the construction," said Vanessa Cummings, assistant director of Parking and Transportation Services. "That's the only one that runs up Campus Avenue."

To facilitate the change in the bus route, signs have been posted at the stops and on the bus lines as well, Cummings said.

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

"We normally have a Rec stop and now it's picking up on Oak Street, so students will go across and pick the bus up going north," Cummings said. "Then they'll be picking up at Richard Hall."

Although they are unsure of when exactly the construction will be finished, Cummings said the alternate bus route is temporary.

"We're just doing this until they get the construction finished up," Cummings said.