Anyone travelling to and from Brock should exercise patience as construction on roads, sidewalks and bus bays on St. David's Road, Glenridge Avenue and Merrittville Highway continues.
Students and staff coming to and from Brock University should expect delays in the coming weeks as construction around the St. Catharines campus is expected to continue through late October.
Motorists, pedestrians and those taking public transit should exercise patience as Niagara Region and Rankin Construction finish work on roads, sidewalks and bus bays on St. David’s Road, Glenridge Avenue and Merrittville Highway.
“People will be passing near construction zones on the way to campus and it is essential that they observe signage provided by the contractor both for safety and to maintain near normal traffic flow,” Brock Facilities Management project manager Scott Roper said. “The contractor is trying to keep traffic flow as close to normal as possible. Drivers should remember that roads are usually slow at move-in and the first week even without construction. Patience and co-operation will help the contractor to complete the work as quickly as possible.”
All lanes of the main roads surrounding the campus should be open for the first week back as work is kept to the perimeter of the roadway. There may be a slight impact to St. David’s Road on Friday, Sept. 5 for curb work, and there will be a flagged single lane of traffic on the Glenridge hill.
Additional work will take place on Glenridge Avenue between Norman Road and Hotel Dieu Shaver Hospital in the latter part of September as a failed substrate is rebuilt.
Merrittville Highway will probably remain in its present condition until it is repaved in October.
Lanes may be periodically reduced or closed, and none of the construction zones will be fully opened until paving is completed sometime in October. At no time will any roads be fully closed.
Also, temporary fencing and signage has been put up on parts of St. David’s Road and Glenridge Avenue to protect pedestrians.
A website has been set up to provide Brock students and staff with updates on roadwork.
When the projects are completed, the finished product will include:
- Bike lanes added to St. David’s Road and Merrittville Hwy
- A new dedicated right turn lane onto Glenridge Ave. from St. David’s Road, where a small pedestrian island will also be built.
- Two bus bays will be built on St. David’s Road and one on Glenridge Ave. to streamline the flow of traffic.
- The University is planning for a future third entrance at the Merrittville Highway and Schmon Parkway intersection where the Region is soon installing new traffic lights. From that entrance, a future roadway is intended to run south of the school’s southern-most parking lots (T, U and V) to enable access to Isaac Brock Boulevards north and south.
- Roads surrounding Brock from Highway 406 to the top of Glenridge hill and south to Schmon Parkway will be resurfaced.
