Students returning to NIU this August should avoid the intersection at Lincoln Highway and Annie Glidden Road or face massive backups, NIU officials warned.

Conrad Miller, NIU Physical Plant project manager, said a gridlock committee of NIU and DeKalb officials drew alternate routes around the intersection, the starting point for the state’s $3.3 million widening of Lincoln Highway.

Students heading west on Interstate 88 for campus locations east of Annie Glidden Road such as Neptune Hall should exit at the first (eastmost) toll gate, go north on Peace Road, west on Pleasant Street, north on 7th, then west on Hillcrest Road, he said.

Those returning to areas west of Glidden should exit 88 at the second (westmost) gate, go north on Glidden, west on Taylor Street, North on Nelson Road, east on Twombly Road, then south on Glidden, Miller said.

Although the Illinois Department of Transportation will not tear up Lincoln before the May 12 Commencement, returning students will find the intersection reduced to one lane with no traffic signals, Miller said.

Miller said construction will widen Lincoln to four lanes past the water tower, leaving only a one-lane temporary access road.

The contractor, Rockford Blacktop, set no completion date, but the project is expected to last through the football season, he said.

“If they don’t respond to this (alternate routing), there will be a backup all the way to 88,” Miller said.

Such a backup five years ago lead to the formation of the gridlock committee to control traffic on Aug. 22, when legions of incoming freshmen flood the residence halls.

Miller said the committee will send out maps and directions, put up signs and station DeKalb police officers along the alternate routes, but the rest is up to drivers.

“We can’t tell them not to go down that road (Lincoln Highway), but the alternates are for their own benefit,” Miller said.

Some confusion over the longer alternatives and unfamiliar streets is unavoidable, he said.

“Going north on Nelson (Road), some people will begin to worry that we’re sending them back into the country. And there’s always a few people determined to do the opposite of what they’re supposed to,” Miller said.

The widening of Lincoln Highway, along with several NIU and DeKalb projects, will make this summwer one of the busiest in recent years, Miller said.

While the state works on Lincoln, workers will struggle to finish NIU’s stretch of Lucinda Avenue west of Annie Glidden, the main artery to four residence halls.

Miller said the buckled and collapsed section will be completely torn up and rebuilt, increasing the road’s depth from 15 to 22 inches deep to handle bus traffic.

A recent estimate put the repair cost for the 600-foot section at $136,000, about $227 per foot. The project should be done before Aug. 22, Miller said.