Construction has begun to repair College Place between West Cross and Forest streets. During this time, the sidewalks are also being attended to.
The renovations don’t stop at repairing the potholes and sidewalks. The crews will also upgrade the ADA ramps on the corners of West Cross and College Place, install a back-flow preventer, and four stamped areas along College Place and Forest. The crews will also widen the entrance into the Pease lot from Forest and the small parking lot next to Pierce Hall will be renovated.
Pease lot is still available for parking; in fact, it is now used for commuters, faculty and hang-tag parking until other spaces are available again. The Pease lot will be accessible through Forest.
Many students and professors alike have been anticipating the construction for awhile.
One student, Kailey Schneemann, reacted to the news with excitement.
“It’s about time.,” she said. “It’ll be nice to not potentially ruin my car driving to school every day.”
Her sister echoed her sentiments of the construction being badly needed.
“No more moon craters in the road!” Rachel Schneemann said.
It appears that no one is bothered by the road being closed and any backups in traffic it may create.
“I think it’s great,” Kristen Blackburn, an EMU freshman, said. “Those potholes were wrecking cars and it’s nice that something is finally being done about it.”
James Criswell, a student, agreed with the rest of the group as well.
“Every day I drove down [College Place], I felt like there was a chance I’d have to take it to a repair shop after classes,” he said.
Though most were concerned about their cars, some looked at the construction in a different light.
“I think it’ll be nice not having to worry about being splashed by muddy water every day it rains,” Rommel Gabrito, another EMU student added, recognizing that it wasn’t just the cars that were suffering.
With all of the construction on campus, some may think it will be hard for students to navigate, but many think the construction crews are doing a good job.
“I thought I wouldn’t be able to get to classes,” Blackburn said. “I was thinking, ‘Great, this is going to add ten minutes to my walk.’ But EMU has done a really good job at only closing off what they need to, and keeping spaces open as long as possible. I haven’t had any inconvenience.”
Construction is scheduled to be completed by Aug. 22, just in time for the fall semester and incoming freshmen.