Andrew Crighton
Staff Writer
Construction on Martin Luther King Jr. Way was originally scheduled to be completed before the fall 2015 semester, however completion has been delayed.
On Aug. 17, Idaho State University published a press release stating the project is now expected to be completed in late September or early October.
During this time, MLKJ Way and the one block of Ninth Ave. on campus will remain closed to vehicular traffic.
The delay of approximately two months has several explanations.
“It’s the city’s project and it’s funded by the Idaho Transportation Department, with some federal grant money,” said Jason Adams, project manager/engineer for ISU Facility Services. “Perhaps there were issues finishing the project design or assigning the bid [for the contract] out.”
Adams is also acting as a liaison between the City of Pocatello and ISU for the MLKJ Way Project.
There has not been much explanation of what is trying to be achieved with the construction.
“I don’t understand what’s taking so long,” said Steven Baird, an ISU sophomore. “I’ve been around all summer and I didn’t really see them working on it much.”
The project is much more than just repaving the road.
“It’s part of the complete streets concept, which is to combine vehicular traffic, bike traffic and pedestrian safety,” said Adams. “The city decided that [MLKJ Way] was much wider than a two-way street should be.”
Included in the plan is narrowing the street, widening the sidewalks, adding planters, storm water bioswales, bike lanes on each side and adjusting crosswalk placement.”
By widening the sidewalks and adding the planters, the hope is to move people onto the sidewalks and towards the crosswalks and to cut down on jaywalking. The crosswalk at the top of MLK J Way has been moved further up the hill so that it is not directly after the crest, making it more visible to approaching traffic, while others are being placed where people are actually crossing most often.
Storm water bioswales are landscaping features that catch rain water and remove some of the pollutants, such as silt and organic chemicals, before the water goes back into the system.
In addition to MLKJ Way, Ninth Ave. on campus is closed and is being converted into a one way street heading away from campus towards Carter St. “The city has found that there are a lot of near misses between pedestrians and vehicles in that area,” said Adams.
“By making it a one way, the traffic pattern is more in line with foot traffic, reducing the amount of interference between the two.”
Paving began on Aug. 31, and the project is expected to stay on schedule.
“From my observations, it looks like they are on track to finish on time,” said Adams.
An article published on The Bengal Online mentioned that maintenance was one of the reasons for tuition costs increasing.
“This year, fees reportedly needed to be increased for facility benefits and ISU maintenance,” said Adams.
The MLKJ Way construction project is not part of the maintenance mentioned in this article. As stated by Adams, this is a city project and is funded by the ITD and federal grant money. The work referred to in the article is the maintenance of the steam utility tunnels and the landscaping project in front of Reed Gymnasium. These projects began immediately after the spring 2015 semester ended and are not part of the MLKJ Way construction.
The full article on ISU tuition increases for 2015 is available online at http://isubengal.com/tuition-increases-finalized-for-2015-2016-academic-year/.
