10th Street closed

Students and teachers using 10th Street in their daily commute through campus need to find another route.\nBloomington officials said 10th Street is closed to all vehicle and pedestrian traffic from Woodlawn Avenue to Fee Lane until July 13. \nKirk White, IU special assistant for external relations, said the goal of the project is to increase water, sewer and storm drains around the new and old Kelley School of Business buildings, and replace some of the drains serving the older building. \n"You've got the additional water and sewer capacity needed for the school of business construction," he said. "We need to increase capacity and replace existing capacity."\nThis summer's construction finishes the work not completed last August. The project was behind schedule, so the city terminated the construction before classes started in the fall to prevent vehicle and pedestrian traffic problems. Since the construction would be resumed less than a year later, the road was not fully repaired.\n"[10th Street] is a little bumpy from the temporary asphalt patches," White said.\n10th Street traffic can use the detour on 13th Street between Indiana Avenue and Fee Lane. While the detour will provide an alternate route around the construction, it will add traffic overflow on Indiana Ave. \nJonathan Heald, city assistant utilities engineer, explained the Department of Public Works is responsible for rerouting traffic when needed. The department put stoplights at the 14th Street and Indiana Avenue intersection.\n"The stoplights are a part of the detour routing for the 10th Street construction," Heald said. \nThe construction will cause Bloomington Transit and IU Campus Bus Service to adjust their routes. While IU Campus Bus Service only runs the A and E routes in the summer, 10th Street is essential in both. Jim Hosler, director of IU Campus Bus Service, said the detour shouldn't affect the overall route time.\n"We just have to change the routing to get around (the construction)," Hosler said. "They're just minor variations."\nHeidi Heppenstiel, dispatcher and supervisor at Bloomington Transit, said that routes one, six and C are affected by the construction. Those routes plan to use the given detour on 13th Street. Heppenstiel doesn't expect the detour to cause any problems, except for a minor time difference.\n"I recommend an additional five to seven minutes for the detours," she said.\n10th Street is expected to be open to vehicle and pedestrian traffic around July 13. White said the city will provide financial incentives to the construction company to encourage a timely completion. Robinson Construction of Bloomington is the company responsible for the 10th Street construction. \nHeald estimates the project will cost the city a projected half million dollars. It's paid for through citizens' water and sewage bills, not taxes. \nThe work is scheduled to be performed from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., which could prove distracting for students taking classes in the business and psychology buildings. \nJunior Katie Erman doesn't think the noise will disrupt business classes. \n"You can't really hear the noise from inside the (business) building," Erman said. "I think the traffic is the only thing that's really affected"