Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

February 18, 2004

Knoll Road section scheduled to close March 1

Map of campus with the road construction
marked

by Anne Krapfl
Knoll Road between Lincoln Way and Union Drive will close Monday, March 1 (weather permitting), for a roads project that will last nearly all summer. The project will realign Knoll Road with Union Drive and develop a stronger south entrance to central campus. The area affected is where the two intersect east of the Memorial Union.

The realignment involves curving Knoll Road to the northwest and merging it into Union Drive. It will include moving and replacing the Knoll Road bridge over College Creek and building a new retaining wall along the east exit of the Memorial Union parking ramp. The new intersection, which will be about 200 feet south and west of the existing intersection, will create a seamless transition from Knoll Road to Union Drive.

Access to The Knoll temporarily will be only via Lincoln Way to Knoll Road. The project also will temporarily change how drivers enter and leave the Memorial Union parking ramp. The south (Lincoln Way) access will be the only entrance and the north (Union Drive) access will be reversed to become the only exit.

All work is scheduled for completion by Sept. 2, though campus planners hope a phased plan for the project means some components will be completed earlier.

Following Veishea weekend, Union Drive between the east end of the Union and the entrance to the new parking deck will close for several months as well.

The realignment project, in the planning stage for nearly two years, is in response to Iowa State's 1991 campus master plan, which recognizes that most people arrive at campus via Elwood Drive and Lincoln Way, and emphasizes the need for a stronger south entrance to campus. According to the master plan, the entrance should lead visitors to the front of the Memorial Union, provide a sense of "arrival" and direct them to the parking ramp where they can park their vehicles.

Visitors arriving from the west would enter on Welch Avenue, drive past Lake Laverne and arrive at the front of the Memorial Union near the campanile. Visitors arriving from the east would enter on Knoll Road and proceed to this same area. Signs on Lincoln Way would advise motorists where to turn.

When the project is complete, traffic on all of Union Drive will be two-way, including the portion in front of the Memorial Union.

The entire project will cost $1.79 million. Funds come from the Institutional Roads Program, administered by the Iowa Department of Transportation and Iowa State.