The Leo Pathway, the shortcut from the north campus to the south campus, will close for about three months in either mid-December or mid-February based on what would work best with construction schedule.
The new route recommended by Public Safety from the north campus to the south campus is to cross the Hayden Bridge, down to the bottom of the Broadway Parking Garage, and out south on Broadway and right onto 240th Street into either Leo Hall or the Research and Learning Center.
A security guard will walk back and forth from the south gate and Leo, and a security vehicle will be close by in case somebody needs to be transported, according to Public Safety.
“The path needs to close,” Andrew Ryan, vice president for facilities, said in the Senate meeting on Nov. 19. “There’s no way around it.”
The pathway will be re-paved a few feet wider, the fences will be ripped down and there will be construction on the east side of the pathway.
The south gate of the parking garage will be open on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. however it is subject to change with class time starting at 8 a.m.
A temporary staircase on Waldo Avenue, which was in the budget, was the backup plan for when the path needed to close down during the school year, but it was not as feasible as the contractors originally thought.
The school then opted to keep the path open for as long as possible by doing additional work. Additional work on the site was done to maintain the path for two-thirds of the project for students, but it needed to be closed at some point.
The decision to do additional work to keep the path open for most of the project was costly for the school, and required more work for the workers on the site.
“We spent significant money, significant money, to keep the path open,” Ryan said. “They actually told me the other day it was probably the worst decision they ever made on the construction project. It hurt both of us.”