Jeff Hill on East Union Street will be converted into a two-way street in time for the Fall Semester next year.
The road was originally scheduled to open to two-way traffic as early as December 2016, but Ohio University spokesman James Sabin said it will not open until Fall Semester due to nearby construction projects.
Andy Stone, city engineer and director of Public Works, said opening it earlier would only cause more issues with traffic on the hill, especially in the eastbound direction, so it’s being kept a one-way until the construction is finished.
Sabin said the Jefferson Hall construction is still on track to be completed in August. There is also a utility project that will need to be completed west of Jefferson Hall before the street can become two-way. It will be the first time since the mid-1990s that Jeff Hill will be a two-way street.
The utilities project will take place from May to July. The road is expected to have some repaving done on it as well during this time. Once both of the projects are finished, the road can be opened in time for students to use at the beginning of Fall Semester.
The road was switched to one-way in the 1990s. In 2002, Jeff Hill was closed after a water line broke and wasn’t reopened to one-way uphill until 2009. It is anticipated that the hill becoming two-way would help improve traffic on Union Street.
“Opening it back up to two-way will help traffic flow,” Stone said. "It will be like it was in the mid-'90s."
Some students are looking forward to Jeff Hill becoming a two-way street. Kira Hall, a sophomore studying English, thinks it will be helpful for students and parents who drive on campus.
“It will make it easier to get around Athens,” Hall said.
Because Jeff Hill is a one-way street that connects Stewart Street to Union Street, it takes longer and is more difficult for students to get around OU's campus, Sam Lagana, a junior studying computer science, said. He said he has a car on campus and faces trouble getting around sometimes because the street is one-way.
“I have to go around back south to get where I’m going normally, and it would probably be more convenient (for Jeff Hill to become a two-way street),” Lagana said.
