Beginning April 29, several traffic lanes and sidewalks will be closed on Franklin Boulevard as construction starts on a sky bridge that will connect the Phil and Penny Knight Campus for Accelerating Scientific Impact campus with other University of Oregon research facilities.
According to Michael Harwood, UO’s associate vice president for campus planning, the construction will close the outside lane in each direction on Franklin Boulevard between Agate St. and Onyx St. The closure will effectively limit auto traffic to two lanes in both directions, as opposed to the normal three, between 5 a.m. and 9 p.m. until late August.
“We want to get the bridge and everything done before the students move in for the fall 2019-2020 school year,” Harwood said. “On-campus students aren’t going to be impacted that much, but for off-campus students it’s going to be a bit annoying.”
The sky bridge is only one part of the billion dollar Knight Campus project that’s scheduled to be completed by early 2020. The Knight Campus construction coincides with the building of a new Hayward Field that’s projected to be finished by 2021 for the IAAF World Championships in Athletics.
“We need to continue to have the best facilities, to have the best students and to have the best faculty and researchers,” Harwood said. “It’s critical to our success as a university.”
The EmX route on Franklin will continue to run throughout the construction period, with only slight changes to routes. Other bus stops may be adjusted as construction continues.
Starting in July, construction will be taking place at night as well, with only one traffic lane open from 9 p.m. to midnight and a complete overnight closure — with posted detours — from midnight to 5 a.m.
Harwood made sure to note that both the Knight Campus construction and the Hayward Field project have nothing to do with rising tuition.
“It’s all state money and philanthropy with Knight Campus and a hundred percent philanthropy with Hayward,” Harwood said. “Those are two big projects that have absolutely nothing to do with the challenges we’re having on tuition.”
