Sidewalk closed on Colesville Road

The Colesville Road sidewalk going south on the bridge over I-495 is closed due to bridge construction. The sidewalk will be open in July of 2005.

According to Project Engineer Sophady Uong, the structural integrity of the bridge was compromised because the decks beneath the bridge were deteriorating and needed to be replaced.

The construction has had negative effects on the commutes of some blazers. Senior Rebbeca Widmayer was inconvenienced when the construction was on the north bound side of Colesville Road. "I had to walk across the other side of Coleville and then cross back, or I had to walk from University side and that took 10 minutes longer,” she said.

In addition to repairing the bridge decks, there are four other phases to the reconstruction project. The first two phases have been completed. The first stage was to take out the median dividing traffic, and the second phase was to repair the sidewalk on the bridge going northbound. The current construction on the sidewalk going southbound is phase three. During phase four, the grass median will be restored and trees will be planted within the median. The roads will also be repaved going across the bridge.