A part of University Boulevard will be closed starting today, affecting traffic on four residential blocks.
The closure, which is slated to last four months for streetcar construction, will affect west of Euclid Avenue to Bean Avenue. It will force the closure of the intersections of University Boulevard and Bean Avenue and Second, Jacobus and First avenues to through traffic. Euclid will remain open.
Tim Gebbia, a junior studying materials science and engineering, said he has already been affected by streetcar construction and that this new closure will hinder his driving to campus and around University Boulevard.
“I have to take detours and such. It’ll be kind of annoying,” Gebbia said. “But you kind of have to do that (close streets) if you’re going to have a project like this.”
The closure on University adds to ongoing closures on Fourth Avenue from Sixth Street to University Boulevard and on Congress Street between Toole and Stone avenues. Second Street between Park Avenue and Olive Road has also been closed since April 23 and is expected to remain closed until Sunday.
Val Timin, inventory manager at American Apparel, a clothing store on University, said she is worried that the new closure may affect sales at the store. Construction will cause more difficulties with parking around the area and fewer people to shop on University, she said.
“We already struggle a little bit with meeting our sales goals, so I really hope it doesn’t take a giant toll on us this summer, which it probably will,” Timin said.
Second Street will be closed between Park Avenue and Palm Drive as well as between Mountain and Cherry avenues from May 2 to May 23. First Street will become a two-way street between Mountain and Cherry avenues to assist traffic flow. The Second Street Parking Garage will remain open.
CatTran stops near the Education building will also be closed during construction. The stops will move to First Street just east of Vine Avenue, and orange and teal CatTran routes will begin using the alternate stop at 6 a.m. on May 2. Only the sidewalk on the north side of Second Street will stay open during construction.
In addition, Second Street from Warren to Martin Avenue will be one-way eastbound and Martin to Campbell Avenue will be one-way westbound. All drivers between Warren and Campbell on Second Street will be detoured north on Martin Avenue from April 30 to May 6.
Looking ahead
On May 7, Broadway Boulevard will be partially closed between Granada and Fifth Avenue. One lane will be maintained along Broadway through construction, except during rush hour, when two lanes will be open to traffic. Most of the construction in this area will be done overnight.
Construction on the Warren Underpass is set to begin in June. Throughout the summer, Second Street between Park and Warren Avenue will be completely closed so streetcar tracks can be set.
Once completed in late 2013, the streetcar, named SunLink, will run through downtown, Fourth Avenue and the UA from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. There will be six streetcars running every 10 to 15 minutes during the day and every 20 minutes at night.
