Lane and Sidewalk Closures Cause Trouble For Some

By: Keisha Burley

The city of Kent has issued intermittent lane and sidewalk closures on South Depeyster Street, Summit Street and Haymaker Parkway to allow for continued construction on the new police building.

 

The closures were initially set to end on March 17, but multiple factors caused the closure dates to be extended until March 24.

 

The northbound curb lane of South Depeyster Street between Summit Street and Haymaker Parkway will be closed from 7:00 AM until 5:00 PM on these days. The eastbound curb lane of Haymaker Parkway between South Depeyster to South Willow street will also be closed at these times.

 

As students adjust to these lane changes while driving, they must also learn to adjust to a sidewalk closure as well, if they wish to walk along Haymaker.

 

Kent State junior Tyler Nicholson, talks about the detours he must make whether he wants to walk downtown or to campus.

 

“I just find it to be a little bit annoying when I want to walk downtown,” Nicholson said. “It’s getting nicer out so I’m walking to places more often than driving, but sometimes it’s a hassle to get where I need to go.”

 

Nicholson has lived at 345 Flats Apartments for about 7 months and has dealt with the construction of the neighboring building well until now.

 

“We had some complaints being called in towards the start of the construction,” James Bowling, Superintendent of Engineering and Deputy Service Director, said. “Early on there were concerns about lack of pedestrian access, but we’ve tried to allow for as much access to the streets as possible. We’ve even built a temporary walkway for students who travel this road to be able to walk to campus if they need it.”

 

Pizza Fire, a neighboring business, sits opposite to the construction site. Bill Shoy, a Pizza Fire employee, said that he walks about 5 minutes to work every day, passing the site each time.

 

“It’s not a big deal for me. I mean it’s a short walk to work so generally I’m not bothered by the closure,” Shoy said. “I’ve worked at Pizza Fire since the end of October and I can’t say that the construction or closures has really hurt the flow of customers in anyway.”

 

Bowling explained that the extension of the closures was a result of weather issues.

 

“If the temperature drops below 40 degrees, we can’t pour concrete,” Bowling said. “Another thing is that we can’t weld anything when it’s raining and we had a couple of rainy days last week.”

 

The framing and flooring of the new building requires both concrete pouring and welding, so the weather didn’t permit for either of these goals to be completed on time.

 

“We had to close the sidewalks because it just isn’t safe to have pedestrians walking in this area,” Bowling said. “The closure of this sidewalk also allows for contractors to drop off large equipment that they would otherwise not have room to unload.”

 

Once the flooring and framing is completed, the workers will move onto roofing. For more information on the progress being made, call the Engineering Division: (330) 678-8106 or Visit http://www.kentohio.org/news3.asp