Summer construction begins on 10th Street

Students no longer have to complain about the half-hour ride down 10th Street. This summer, no one will ride down 10th Street at all. Construction will keep the normally busy road torn up until the beginning of August.\nConstruction, which began this week, is scheduled to run through the summer until about August 10. The City of Bloomington, along with Indiana University, have undertaken this project for several reasons. \nIU Special Assistant for External Affairs Kirk White said the process is threefold.\nFirst, he said, sanitary sewer and storm drains along 10th Street need to be replaced, so the City of Bloomington Utilities Department will have to go right up through the street itself, which will necessitate the road's closure. This phase of the project was recently awarded to Robinson Construction of Bloomington, and it will cost the city $471,000.\nAlso, construction on the Kelley School of Business will be closing Fee Lane from 10th Street to the entrance of the new Fee Lane parking garage. White says this will include a two-story connector building over Fee Lane, joining the existing building to the new one, which will be on the west side of Fee Lane. He added that this section of the building will actually have offices in it, as IU wants to utilize the space.\nFinally, beginning sometime mid-summer, sewer lines on the east side of 10th Street by the Crosstown shopping center will be replaced. This project has not yet been auctioned, so no particular construction company is assigned to complete it, said Doug Jones, assistant engineer at Bloomington Utilities. Jones added that contractors are looking at the plan, and they will bid May 29. The project will be awarded June 4. \nJones said the work is mostly confined to the IU property south of Crosstown, but there is a point at which contractors will have to dig into 10th Street. He points out this project will be much shorter in duration than the others, probably lasting three to four weeks and hopefully being completed by the time students arrive.\n"This has to be done before kids get back into town," he emphasized. \n"(Traffic flow is) going to be challenging for visitors particularly," said White. "We've printed copies of the map that we're sending out to departments to put in registration information for people who are coming for summer conferences, sports camps, freshmen registration, that sort of thing."\nAs for Bloomington residents, a detour is currently being used which takes drivers up through \n13th Street. Temporary traffic signals have been installed at 13th and Indiana as well as at 13th and Fee, Jones said. \n"We hope that our students and faculty and staff members will get used to an alternative route," White said.\nFor those on foot, even fewer problems are anticipated. Jerry Forshee, of the Psychology Department, which is located on 10th Street, said he does not expect students to have any trouble getting to and from class, especially since it is summertime and foot traffic is so light. He pointed out that the footpath which comes across from the arboretum will be unaffected and that there will be pedestrian access on the south side of the street. \n"We don't expect it to be an inconvenience," he said. \nThe project is well under way and hopefully will be completed by August 10, White said.\nJones agreed and added that IU and the City of Bloomington are working to make the process as swift and smooth as possible. \n"It's really a partnering project with the City and IU," he said.