College Mall Road construction nears completion

After over two years of construction, College Mall Road might finally be complete.\nThe road has been under construction since June 2001 and the project is scheduled to wrap up the first week of October 2003. \nMany have questioned the length of time that the road was under construction. \n"Oh, you mean that mess down by Target," junior Amanda Hardesty said. "I think it's been a huge inconvenience."\nInconvenience or not, engineering manager Justin Wykoff said construction was necessary due to the heavy volume of traffic College Mall Road was experiencing. The estimated $5.6 million project encompassed a variety of needed jobs. Instead of two lanes, the road has been extended to four and a turning lane was also added. The addition of a traffic light at Second Street by the Buick-Cadillac dealership was added for safety reasons. \nWykoff attributes the length of the project to several factors. Utility work and add-ons were a factor in the length of time for the project. Old sewer, water and phone lines were removed and replaced with new lines. Other new additions to College Mall Road include a multi-use bike path and new sidewalk.\nBut drivers on College Mall Road are not the only ones affected by the construction. Merchants and businesses located in the area have also had to make adjustments. Vicki Temple, owner of Bloomington Hardware and member of the College Mall Road Task Force Project Team, said the business had to plan ahead when looking at how the construction would affect business.\n"Any business knows there is going to be some impact," Temple said.\nTo make things more convenient for customers, Bloomington Hardware added a delivery van to use at their customer's convenience. \n"This helped us pick up outside sales," Temple said.\nHardesty still questioned the amount of work that was actually done on the road. \n"I just wonder what they do all summer," Hardesty said. "It just seems like they step (road work) up when everyone gets back."\nWykoff said another roadblock for the project has been weather. He said there have been certain times -- including the months between December and March -- when working on the road was impossible.\n"Those months shouldn't count," Wykoff said. "We can't lay asphalt or concrete. Those months threw off a lot of work on (College Mall Road) this year."\nThis week's last minute touches on the road could pose other problems to drivers. He said there might be traffic changes, and traffic might be routed entirely to one side of the road during completion.\nBut Wykoff said once complete, the new improvements will benefit everyone. \n"There will be a lot better accessibility and take pressure off other roads," Wykoff said. "By improving College Mall Road, it helps the city and our businesses. Pedestrians will have a multi-use pathway at their convenience."\n-- Contact staff writer Lindsay Jancek at ljancek@indiana.edu.