Contact: Joe Farris
Creelman Street construction
In anticipation of heavy traffic congestion as the fall semester gets under way, Mississippi State officials are advising students, faculty and staff to begin planning travel routes carefully.
Also beginning next week, persons coming to campus should consider leaving home early each work day while Creelman Street--a major thoroughfare--remains closed for construction.
Final registration and new student orientation take place Monday and Tuesday [Aug. 16 and 17]; classes begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday [the 18th].
Creelman, an east-west route through central campus, will be blocked at least through Sept. 2 from the Five Points intersection to President's Circle. The street has been closed since June to allow for construction of a new 110-space parking lot south of the Lloyd-Ricks Building.
With Creelman closed for the first two weeks of the semester, traffic entering campus from Starkville on Bully Boulevard or Creelman/Russell streets must make either a left or right turn at the intersection with Stone Boulevard at Five Points. Drivers may turn left and then turn right onto Lee Boulevard to travel east into the central campus, or may turn right onto Stone Boulevard to travel toward South campus and access to parking lots around Allen Hall.
The project also has permanently eliminated Darden Avenue between Lee Boulevard and Tracy Drive. As it has been since June, the portion of Lee Boulevard between Five Points and the junction of Lee and Darden will continue to handle two-way traffic. Previously, that portion of the street had been westbound only.
The portion of north-south Tracy Drive between Lee Boulevard and Darden Avenue remains in use while parking lot construction is in progress and is open to two-way traffic and parking, but temporarily dead-ends at Darden.
The portion of Darden Avenue from President's Circle at Montgomery Hall west to Tracy Drive also is open to two-way traffic, providing access to the parking lots behind Montgomery Hall and Perry Cafeteria, but Darden now dead-ends at Tracy Drive.
The staff parking lot between McCarthy Gym and President's Circle remains open but is now accessed by a new entrance from the large open parking lot behind McCarthy Gym.
Construction fences surround the entire site, which prevents direct north-south pedestrian traffic between Lloyd-Ricks on the north and Dorman Hall and McCarthy Gym to the south. The east-west sidewalk on the south side of Creelman Street also is temporarily closed. Pedestrians who would normally follow Creelman Street between McCarthy Gym and Dorman Hall will be able to take sidewalks behind McCarthy Gym and the Tin Gym to the Dorman Hall parking lot.
MSU officials are recommending that travelers to campus arrange their schedules as much as possible to avoid peak traffic around 8 a.m. Parking at the Humphrey Coliseum parking lot and taking the campus shuttle into central campus would be another choice, officials added.
Four shuttle routes are in operation from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Routes and stops may be viewed online at http://msuinfo.ur.msstate.edu/where/shuttle/shuttle.pdf.
MSU Police and Parking Services staff will be stationed at key points during high traffic periods early in the semester to direct and assist motorists and pedestrians.
A new lot designated as open parking will be available this fall in the northeast quadrant of campus. With Hamlin Hall scheduled for removal, the residence hall parking lot near the intersection of East Lee Boulevard and Barr Avenue will be open to any faculty, staff or students with valid MSU parking decals.
Once the new Lloyd-Ricks parking lot construction is completed, which will be in time for the first football game on Sept. 4, Creelman Street will be opened to two-way traffic between Five Points and President's Circle.