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Section of Jayhawk Boulevard to close during tunnel repairs

Closure replaces plan for detour near Watson

To save $100,000 and a number of trees, a section of Jayhawk Boulevard will be closed for six weeks this summer to accommodate vital repairs to campus steam tunnels.

Though traffic on the boulevard will no longer be detoured onto a temporary road through the Watson Library lawn as was announced previously, some staff who park along Memorial Drive will have a detour imposed on their walk to work.

Early plans had called for the boulevard to be temporarily realigned through the lawn in order to keep traffic moving during construction. However, that plan would have cost more and required the cutting of a few more trees on the south side of Jayhawk Boulevard, including an 18-inch ash on the southeast corner of the intersection of Jayhawk Boulevard and Mississippi Street. The change in plans will also spare the planters and information kiosk in front of Watson Library, which were slated to be temporarily removed.

What the new plan means:

  • Jayhawk Boulevard will be closed between Mississippi Street and Lilac Lane from July 1 to Aug. 11. It will remain open between the Mississippi Street and the Chi Omega Fountain.
  • Buses will use Memorial Drive during the closure.
  • To accommodate bus traffic, parking will be prohibited on the north side of Memorial Drive during the project.
  • To compensate for the lost parking spaces, faculty and staff with any KU Parking and Transit permit — red, blue, gold, park and ride, and garage permits — will be able to park in the Mississippi Street garage for free during this period.
  • Both Sunflower Road and Lilac Lane will remain open throughout the project.
  • Mississippi Street will be closed from Memorial Drive to Jayhawk Boulevard from May 20 to Aug. 11. It will reopen as a one-lane, southbound-only street from Aug. 11 to Nov. 11.

Contractors are scheduled to begin digging a trench approximately 15 feet wide and 15 feet deep immediately following commencement on May 18. The trench, which will allow workers access to the tunnels, will begin west of Watson Library, cross Jayhawk Boulevard, follow northeast along Mississippi Street and end immediately west of Dyche Hall. A security fence will be constructed on both sides of the trench.

The repairs are the first phase of a three-year, $8.9 million project to replace century-old utility tunnels, parts of which were hand dug.

TOPONYMS:

After its 1960 opening on west campus, Youngberg Hall housed the Center for Research Inc. After the center moved to nearby Nichols Hall, KU Endowment moved into the hall, which it had built and named in honor of former executive secretary Irvin Youngberg. KU Endowment outgrew Youngberg in 1998, and the KU Center for Research and the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies returned. For more, visit www.buildings.ku.edu.