Construction of the University Place promenade will begin next week, Syracuse University Vice President Pete Sala announced in an email to the SU community on Wednesday.

The promenade will run from College Place to South Crouse Avenue — in front of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Schine Student Center and Bird Library.

That portion of University Place will be closed beginning May 31 to all traffic, except for emergency and maintenance vehicles. Beginning June 3, buses that stop along that stretch of University Place will be rerouted to Comstock and Waverly avenues.

Construction of the promenade will “essentially be complete” by August 22, prior to the start of the fall semester, Sala said in the email. The promenade is part of the Campus Framework plan, which is part of the Fast Forward initiative. When completed, the promenade will serve as a pedestrian-friendly walkway.

Additionally, a new drive lane to the Quad 2 parking lot — which is located between Lyman and Smith halls — will be “immediately constructed, and open in mid-June,” Sala said in the email. During that construction, Link Hall will be made accessible through Slocum Hall, Sala said. A temporary sidewalk will also be installed at the accessible entry to Lyman Hall to “allow for the installation of a permanent accessible walkway.”

Construction of the promenade was originally scheduled to begin May 16 but was delayed after two petitions were circulated earlier this month expressing concerns about the promenade. The first petition was signed by 108 SU faculty members and led to two feedback sessions being held, at which faculty members further voiced those concerns. The second petition was created by THE General Body and signed by 211 SU students, alumni and community members.

At the feedback sessions, faculty members said they were concerned with the cost of the promenade, the potential for increased traffic on Waverly Avenue, whether the promenade would make the campus safer and more accessible and what they believe has been a lack of transparency from SU officials regarding plans for the promenade.

They also questioned how the promenade fits into the Academic Strategic Plan, which Sala said at the time had not yet been approved by the Board of Trustees. In his email Wednesday, Sala said that each of the construction projects is designed to align the Academic Strategic Plan “with its physical framework,” though he did not elaborate further.

Published on May 25, 2016 at 6:19 pm

Contact Michael: mdburk01@syr.edu