Skip redundant pieces
Oread

Indiana Street section to be closed through summer

The Oread Inn construction project will cause an additional detour for KU traffic, but it is yet to be determined how long it will last.

Lawrence city commissioners approved a request May 20 by developers of the project to close Indiana Street between 11th and 12th streets. The developers made the request citing safety concerns. Work crews are digging a 50-foot hole for a parking garage, and a large crane will be in place for part of the construction.

The closure began June 4, and is scheduled to last at least until Aug. 15. The first day of classes in the fall semester is Aug. 21.

Danny Kaiser, assistant director of Parking and Transit, said he has not been presented with a final timetable for the closure. Alternate bus routes have gone into effect to accommodate the closure. Northbound bus routes will use Louisiana Street and southbound routes will use Mississippi Street.

Kaiser said Parking and Transit plans on maintaining the alternate routes throughout the next year. For more information on bus routes and detours, visit www.kuonwheels.ku.edu.

The Oread Inn detour is just one project that will alter the flow of campus traffic over the summer. Work has begun on the first phase of a three-year, $8.9 million project to repair deteriorating steam tunnels. Jayhawk Boulevard will be closed between Mississippi Street and Lilac Lane from July 1 to Aug. 11 to accommodate the work. Mississippi Street is closed between Memorial Drive and Jayhawk Boulevard until Aug. 11. It is scheduled to reopen as a one-lane, southbound-only street from Aug. 11 to Nov. 11. For more on the project, visit www.oread.ku.edu/2008/may/12/boulevard.shtml.

TOPONYMS:

The steam-tunnel repairs on the front lawn of Watson Library overlap the site of the first Snow Hall, the natural history building that opened in 1886. By the 1920s, the classroom and lab facility had deteriorated so badly that its stone walls had "quivering tendencies" in high winds, among other failings. New Snow Hall opened in 1930, and the old building was demolished. Its stone was saved and recycled to face the Military Science Building, completed in 1943. For more, visit www.buildings.ku.edu.