By: Andrew Zajic
At a time students take midterm exams, the North Entrance of Stony Brook University campus is closing for the next two weeks.
When the fall semester began, students drove up the hill of the North Entrance and then saw the mounds of dirt in place of the pale-green and yellow grass seen at the end of the last spring semester. Last Wednesday, students were greeted with new yellow road signs displaying, “CIRCLE RD. CLOSED OCT 31ST – NOV 14TH.” The mounds of dirt are gone and the appearance of the new intersection of Circle Road and the North Entrance has emerged about 50 feet further away from the current intersection.
The road construction is weather sensitive, according to James Montalto, Media Relations Manager. It cannot be pushed back to when the fall semester ends.
“I have three midterms in the next two weeks,” said Damion Jeenarine, 21, a student who uses the North Entrance when he commutes to Stony Brook University campus. He is studying both math and business finance, and he said he has a midterm exam in his MAT 312 and his MAT 341 next week. His third midterm exam for CSE 110 falls on November 14, the last day of the Circle Rd. closure.
Jeenarine believes the closure of the North Entrance will cause traffic congestion at the Main and South entrances to campus. He said he usually leaves his home an hour before his classes.
“Now I’m going to have to leave an hour and a half to get to class,” said Jennarine.
The University does not anticipate signification traffic congestion at the other entrances. “University Police will monitor traffic flow and it will assist in expediting vehicles on and off campus as necessary,” according to Montalto in an email.
One yellow road sign is seen at the North Entrance. More of the signs appear on the way to the parking lots towards the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) parking lots. These parking lots near the train station will remain open, but commuter students cannot use the road to the North Entrance or the North Entrance itself to drive to and from these lots.
According to Montalto, the road construction will “improve sight lines for drivers on Circle Road as well as the North Entrance Road by realigning the intersection.”
The project is weather dependent and the university will give updates when more specific information becomes available.
