On time and on budget, phase one of the McKinley Safety Improvement Project is drawing to a close. The contractor, E&B Paving, applied the finishing touches to the roadway on Tuesday, and Ball State grounds crews have finished up landscaping details as the roadway opens to traffic.

A federal transportation bill will pay 80 percent of the total cost for the $11 million, three-phase project. The first phase, which improved McKinley Avenue from Riverside Avenue to Petty Road, cost just under $5.5 million.

McKinley Avenue, a major Ball State thoroughfare, was closed for the duration of the project, which began May 9. Jim Lowe, Ball State's director of engineering and operations, said the decision to close the road allowed E&B to complete the project in just 82 days.

"I cannot envision what it would have been like to try and do this project during the academic year," Lowe said. "This approach worked very well."

Lowe added that the Ball State community was very supportive of the project, even as it disrupted pedestrian pathways along McKinley.

"Everyone was great this summer," Lowe said. "I think people enjoyed seeing the street destroyed and then recreated."

The safety improvement project included separating traffic with landscaped medians, creating designated pedestrian crosswalks and adding more lighting throughout the area.

Lowe said the landscaped medians were created for two reasons.

"First and foremost, we wanted to encourage pedestrians to safely cross in the designated crosswalks," he said. "The paved crossovers help to guide and direct where people go. When you cross into the paved median, you are in a protected area of the street. Additionally, the median concept affords us the opportunity to enhance the streetscape."

With new landscaping, what was once merely a street has become something more, Lowe said.

"The completion of this phase of the project connects the west side of campus with the east side of campus," he said. "Pedestrians will now have a comfortable feeling when walking in this area."

Lowe also points out that drivers on McKinley Avenue will need to break old habits.

Concerns about traffic flow dictate the need for strict enforcement of a no-stopping policy along the street. While drivers will be allowed to use the bus pullovers for dropping off passengers, picking up passengers along McKinley is discouraged.

"It really has to be instantaneous," Lowe said regarding dropping off passengers. "And buses have to take precedence."

Lowe pointed out a new area near Printing Services on Petty Road that was created specifically for dropping off and picking up passengers.

Phase two of the roadwork project will begin the day after commencement ceremonies in May 2006 with the closing of McKinley from Petty Road to Bethel Avenue and will include the creation of a new campus entrance at Bethel, a new pond and a new bridge, as well as replacing the roadway itself.

The third phase, which will include improvements to Riverside Avenue from Dicks Street to Meadow Lane, will begin in 2007.