After more than three months of construction, South College Drive has reopened to traffic in both directions.
Access to the entrance of the C-lot from the road is also open, allowing traffic to enter the lot from the back.
All 131 promised parking spaces have been added along the northbound side of the road. Parking in these spots is restricted to those with a permit for lot 12G, the adjacent lot. Permits for G-lots are reserved for campus employees.
Those who currently park in lot 17G, located behind the Communications Facility and the Environmental Studies Building, will be temporarily relocated to the new parking spaces during the construction of the new electrical engineering and computer science building, Kaiser-Borsari Hall, said Sherrie Montgomery, the project manager. Current plans will see construction begin on March 20.
Surrounding vegetation will be planted in the spring and a final asphalt covering will be laid down in August while school is not in session, said Montgomery.
Current road markings are temporary with permanent lines to be finished along with the final asphalt layer. Work for this portion of the project is expected to close the road again for roughly one week, said Montgomery.
Despite original plans to remove the southbound bike lane, both bike lanes are still present with Montgomery applauding the engineers’ effort to rework the design.
Stop signs at the intersection between lots C, 12G and 18R have been added, breaking up the road with the goal to slow traffic down.
A final safety addition yet to be installed is a manually activated crosswalk light, allowing pedestrians to safely cross Bill McDonald Parkway at the base of South College Drive.
Montgomery said the mechanism has been ordered and will be installed once it arrives in a few months.
Original plans and details for the project can be found here in a previous article from The Front.
Miles Tennant (he/him) is a campus news reporter for The Front this quarter. He is a second-year planning to major in the news/editorial path of the journalism department. When not reporting, he enjoys playing soccer and spending time in the gym.
You can contact him @milestennant.thefront@gmail.com
