With three months left, Annie Glidden Rd. construction continues

By Julia Haugen

Urbanites hoping to escape the orange and white of roadway construction may be slightly saddened at the sight of Annie Glidden Road and Lincoln Highway.

Annie Glidden construction is halfway complete with three months of work left, according to DeKalb city engineer Joel Maurer. However, the Lincoln Highway bridge construction will continue through next spring.

Maurer said no students have voiced complaints over Annie Glidden’s detours. A few had problems directing out-of-towners around the construction during Thursday’s move-in day and storms.

“I didn’t have any problems personally,” said junior sociology major Laurie Bertoncini. She ran into trouble when she tried to direct friends coming to see her in DeKalb.

Lincoln Highway bridge construction presents more of an annoyance, with some students having trouble adjusting to the traffic lag. Junior sociology major, Melissa Zyrkowski, said the two-lane bottleneck created on the bridge is a source of frustration for her.

Zyrkowski said she tried to run an errand between classes but ended up stuck in traffic on her return trip.

“I thought I’d have time to run to the bank, but I didn’t,” she said.

Maurer said traffic tends to back up in the early morning and during the five o’clock rush home. He also said work is still on time. However, a few problems have surfaced.

“It’s been slow progressing because of conflicts with utilities that are just now getting themselves moved out of the way and of course the weather,” Maurer said.

Construction will shift from the north to the south side of the bridge around the end of December, marking the halfway point.

Maurer said streetscaping various side roads and Locust St. are, so far, the only projects on the books for 2008.