March 29, 2004

Contact: Bonnie Lowe
(805) 756-2111

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

California Boulevard to Extend Through Cal Poly – Expect Traffic Detours on Campus

SAN LUIS OBISPO – Construction is about to get under way on a major extension of California Boulevard through the Cal Poly campus.

The $900,000 construction project, funded by Proposition 47, will extend California Boulevard through to Highland Drive on campus, allowing a direct traffic route from California and Foothill boulevards to the north end of campus.

Construction is expected to get under way in April. The university expects to have the project completed by fall quarter. However, during construction California Boulevard will be closed to through traffic at Campus Way.

Parking will remain available on California Boulevard behind Mustang Stadium and the Orfalea College of Business, but a portion of the Poly Grove staff parking lot (C-4) will be closed. In the next phase of the project, C-4 will be redesigned to add at least 50 new staff parking spaces.

Through traffic on California Boulevard destined for the library, Campus Market, agriculture buildings and University Police will be detoured up Campus Way and South Perimeter roads through campus.

Highland Drive will remain open during the entire construction project but will be subject to delays and lane closures and may have periodic detours or restrictions for bicycle and pedestrian traffic.

“We will have signs up to indicate lane closures and traffic delays,” said Bonnie Lowe, project information coordinator.

The project is part of Cal Poly’s Campus Master Plan to improve campus circulation, Lowe said. The new roadway will extend past the new Engineering III Building and meet Highland Drive east of the railroad overpass.

The final phase of the project includes roadway lighting, landscaping, sidewalks, bike lanes and a wide intersection at California Boulevard and Highland Drive.

For more details, including maps, and regular updates on the California Boulevard project on campus, visit the project Web page on the Cal Poly Facilities Web site at http://www.facilities.calpoly.edu/Facilities_Planning/ (click on the California Boulevard Detour icon at the bottom of the page).

Traffic information is also regularly posted on the Campus Advisories Web site: http://www.calpoly.edu/cpmaps/advisories.html and the University Police Web site: http://www.afd.calpoly.edu/Police/.

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