March 28, 2024

BC-ConstructionBY BETH CROUSE
Improvements to University Avenue starting at the Highway 85 westbound ramp to Weber Street are causing a traffic nightmare for motorists, but especially for students trying to enter and exit Conestoga College’s Waterloo campus parking lots.

Normal working hours for this construction project are Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Lane reductions have left University Avenue in front of the Waterloo campus with only one lane going in each direction.

Road closures as a result of the construction project have made it increasingly difficult to access the campus parking lots, and a headache for anyone trying to pull out.

“Trying to pull out is a nightmare,” said Jeremy Mifusd, a first-year culinary management student. “It takes half an hour to turn left.”

“You have to figure a way around to avoid closed roads,” said Stephanie Kenter, a first-year culinary skills chef training student.
However, not all students find the ongoing construction to be a problem.

Adam Sulkers and Mike Smyth, both first-year culinary management students, said because they walk to school, the construction hasn’t impacted their commute, but Smyth admitted that the construction does make it hard to drive to school.

The Waterloo campus students received an email advising them that there was going to be construction going on when they returned to classes, but other than posted signs indicating that construction will be completed sometime in late November, they have no idea as to when the construction will actually be finished.

Chad Hall, a first-year construction techniques (carpentry) student, summed up the general feeling of Conestoga’s Waterloo campus students by saying, “It’s terrible, I have to go in a complete square to get to the parking lot.”

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