Work to widen Perimeter Road is scheduled to ramp up in the coming weeks when crews will bring in equipment to prepare the roadsides to make way for two more traffic lanes, a center median and a 10-foot-wide pedestrian and bike path.
The bulk of the work through the rest of the year will be on the sides of the road to prepare for the widening, according to Project Manager John Gambrell of University Facilities. Brief lane closings may be needed to move equipment from one side of the road to the other, he said.
Dozens of orange safety barrels on both sides of the road and signs about the upcoming work are set up to help get drivers accustomed to the upcoming construction.
Scheduled short-term lane closings for construction of the road and median likely won’t begin until early in 2023. The lane closures will be timed to avoid high-traffic events, such as football games and graduation. Flaggers will be posted at construction zones to direct traffic through those areas.
Weather permitting, the project is scheduled to be completed by August 2023.
Planned Enhancements
The four-lane road will have two travel lanes in each direction and a 10-foot multiuse path for pedestrians and bicycles along the north side of the road that connects to the Green Crescent Trail at Vineyard Road.
There also will be a landscaped center median along Perimeter Road from Highway 76 to Cherry Road and a raised median to just past the Brooks Center entrance to create room for a left turn lane to enhance traffic safety.
For information about this and other road projects, see University Facilities’ interactive map.