The improvements underway on University Drive through the TCU campus are on schedule to be wrapped up by the beginning of the fall 2024 semester.
“We expect all major construction to be completed by the time classes begin,” said Morgan McGlothlin, project manager. “We are thrilled to be able to complete the bulk of the work during the summer when activity is comparatively light, and our crews have worked most Saturdays to do so.”
Construction began in May in an effort to provide safer vehicle and pedestrian traffic with wider walkways, improved traffic patterns and signals and more protected crosswalks. Simultaneously, additional work is also enhancing TCU’s Veteran’s Plaza.
Vehicular lanes recently flipped to shift traffic to the interior lanes, and McGlothlin said that all sidewalks should be open by the first week of August. To allow for maximum safety, pedestrian traffic will still currently be directed to the main crossing in front of the Intellectual Commons, but all crosswalks should be open by the first day of fall classes.
McGlothlin said the only component of the project that is projected to extend into the semester could be minor landscaping and the new signal lights, which have to be inspected and tested by the city of Fort Worth before being activated.
In the meantime, planners are mindful of additional traffic during move-in and are preparing accordingly. McGlothlin said that, for vehicles, University Drive will be open to two lanes in select areas to improve traffic flow, and, for pedestrians, multiple crosswalks will be open, and they have worked with the city to increase duration intervals at crossing signals.