The ongoing Middle Tennessee Boulevard road-widening project will close both the Faulkinberry Drive and Bell Street campus entrances to traffic beginning Monday, Dec. 18, until sometime in mid-January.
The spring semester begins Tuesday, Jan. 16, and these entrances may still be closed at that time. Campus parking and transportation officials urge motorists to make plans to avoid these areas. Maps that detail areas and parking space affected by this work can be found here.
The arm gate at the Cope Administration Building on Old Main Circle will be open while the entrances are closed to facilitate traffic flow, and the northern entrance to the Alma Mater Drive lot will remain open to continue the Raider Xpress “green route” shuttles when classes resume.
The work will also move the normal pickup location for the RTA Relax and Ride routes that stop at MTSU. Through Jan. 31, the RTA bus stops for the Route 84X Murfreesboro Express and 96X Nashville/Murfreesboro Relax and Ride buses will be detoured to East Bell Street and Crestland Avenue.
Work continues to progress on the $15.7 million widening project, which will upgrade the .8-mile section of the thoroughfare between East Main and Greenland Drive. The city of Murfreesboro is overseeing the work, which is expected to be completed in fall 2018.
The enhancement will also include divided landscaped medians, bike lanes, improved sidewalks and lighting, new traffic signals, decorative crosswalks and underground utilities.
When the project is complete, the west side of campus also will be affected in the following ways:
- Traffic flow on Faulkinberry Drive will change to “right turn in, right turn out” onto Middle Tennessee Boulevard.
- A pull-in area for buses will be added to the front of Murphy Center.
- Pedestrian crossings with signals will be added at Lytle and Division Streets, and crosswalks at Bell Street and Faulkinberry Drive will be upgraded.
- Brick walls with signage will be erected at the corners of Greenland Drive and Lytle, and another wall will be added at East Main Street, to better define the university’s boundaries.
- Flagpoles will be erected at Faulkinberry Drive.
This aerial view shows the Bell Street campus entrance and nearby parking spaces that will be affected (in red) upcoming construction work as part of the Middle Tennessee Boulevard road-widening project. The Bell Street and Faulkinberry Drive entrances were closed Dec. 18 and will remain closed through mid-January.