Dreaded detour to wrap up early
published 4:00pm Thursday Jun 26, 2008
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The now-barricaded Rugby Road-area stretch of University Avenue will reopen as a key thoroughfare Saturday, June 28, when the first of a two-phase project to repair UVA’s steam tunnels is finished. According to project manager Kate Meyer, the completion date is nine days ahead of schedule for the first phase.
“We closed the road June 9,” says Meyer, “and we said it would take four weeks.” She attributes the speedy repairs to “team effort, hard workers, and good weather.”
Meyer says the second phase will block part of McCormick Road and close an eastbound lane of University Avenue. Cars turning right from McCormick to University Avenue will have to bear left at the median triangle past Alderman Library. Eastbound University Avenue drivers who plan to turn left onto Rugby Road are advised to turn left onto Culbreth Road instead, so as not to hold up traffic.
Meyer estimates that the second phase will take about 30 days, with the total project’s estimated completion date– which had earlier been set at mid-August– possibly as early as July 28.
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This is great. I’m happy to hear this. Just a word, if you’re driving down Culbreth Road, please look out for pedestrians. There are THREE crosswalks, all marked.
In the last two days, I have been nearly hit by a driver (and yes, one was using a cell phone). The first crosswalk has a green sign but there are two more just around the corner.
If anyone wants to say that this is my fault, let me say that there wasn’t ANY traffic when I started to cross and the drivers in both cases weren’t even speeding down Culbreth. They had plenty of time to see and I’m still surprised that they got so close to me as they did. I tried to walk faster but I have a bad leg. (Not all of us are spry students.)
In all of the years of crossing Emmett Street before moving up here, I’ve never had such close calls. Also, since two of these crosswalks are on a curve AND we have construction crews up towards Rugby, please drive carefully. I really feel bad for the construction crews because I’m sure they have had more close calls than the pedestrians.