Potholes and frequent flooding on McKinley Avenue will be a distant memory come August.
Because of reconstruction, McKinley Avenue closed to cars and pedestrians on May 9 between Riverside Avenue and all approaches to Petty Road and Neely Avenue, and it will remain closed through and including August 12.
When completed, the project will improve safety and bring more of a campus feel to Ball State, Jim Lowe, director of facilities assessment and engineering, said.
During the first phase, McKinley Avenue will receive a new base, new subsurface drainage, five layers of asphalt, a lane around the west side of Shafer Tower, a concrete median with trees and plants, brick sidewalks, brighter sidewalk lighting and new traffic signal equipment, said Lowe and Brian Crume, area manager for E and B Paving, Inc., the company awarded the contract. Also, Neely Avenue and Petty Road will receive additional turning lanes, Lowe said.
Crume does not foresee anything causing delays in the construction schedule other than weather.
Anywhere from 15 to 40 workers will work six days a week on the project for 11 to 12 hours, Crume said, and four subcontractors are helping with the project.
Lowe said that over the years, McKinley Avenue has transformed from a country-like road with pedestrians mainly walking on the east side to a city road in addition to pedestrians walking across McKinley Avenue to use both sides of campus. Today, he said, the road should only be used as a campus access road.
"This [McKinley Avenue] shouldn't be your choice to travel from one side of the city to the other side of the city," Lowe said.
According to Lowe, safety came into question when people began wanting to cross the road, but traffic was increasing at the same time.
"Today, that middle is nothing more than a yellow stripe, and when you get out there, you're actually a target," he said.
The concrete median that will be part of the new road is designed to give pedestrians a safe haven and additional time to think about their next moves. Trees and plants will decorate the median, which will have railing to discourage walkers from trampling the greenery.
Pedestrians will only be able to cross at certain points where brick pavers will lay out seven to eight crosswalks, Lowe said. The bricks will serve as an alert for drivers to slow down in those areas.
Brighter and wider lights will also illuminate the brick sidewalks, Lowe said.
"You have to balance between the motorists and the pedestrians. You want it well lit so that you feel safe, but you can't have it so bright at night that it becomes a deterrent to the person who's driving," he said.
The brick sidewalks will have a six-inch tall curb, discouraging vehicles from pulling onto the sidewalk. To accommodate shuttle buses and drivers who want to pick up and drop off people, two drop-off spots northbound and southbound will cut into the sidewalk at the bus stops, Lowe said.
Lowe said that the City of Muncie and the Department of Public Safety will give tickets to cars parked in the unloading areas in the fall as well as cars stopped on the main road.
Shafer Tower will have a southbound lane added to its west side during the construction, which eliminates "competition" for road space around the east side of the tower, making it easier to move around the tower, Lowe said.
Other McKinley Avenue improvements will be underneath the surface. The base and drainage system of McKinley Avenue proved to be inefficient as flooding persisted on the road in addition to potholes, according to both Crume and Lowe.
"It's actually bad base [and] bad sub-drainage that causes your problems with the roads and the cracking and so forth. You can't get the water away, it freezes underneath, it pops up and creates a crack, and it just propagates from there," Lowe said.
The different soils that compose the base from previous constructions on McKinley Avenue contributed to the road's deterioration, along with the absence of subsurface drainage, Crume said. The correct type of soil will be placed on the base as well as a stone base to help correct the cracking.
Most of the drainage system will focus on the flooding around Shafer Tower. Larger drainage pipes will be installed to direct water to Cardinal Creek and White River, Lowe said.
Crume said the new pipes should be able to handle a "quick two-inch rainfall."
The intersection of McKinley and Neely avenues and Petty Road will be upgraded as well.
According to Lowe, a left-turning lane on Neely Avenue and Petty Road will be added, and new traffic light equipment will be installed to handle the new traffic pattern, Lowe said.
The next phase of construction from the Bethel Avenue intersection south to the Neely and Petty intersection will start May 8, 2006.
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