City officials have opened Mulberry Street to “light” vehicle traffic until repairs can be made, following concerns about the structural integrity of the steam tunnel beneath the street.
Any vehicle under 20 tons is allowed to use the street until Ohio University repairs the tunnel, which it plans to do this summer, according to a release from Ron Lucas, the city’s deputy service-safety director.
So — for now — the Athens Public Transit bus stop on Mulberry will remain diverted to President Street, according to the release.
Though the university has been conducting tests on the structural integrity of the utility tunnel, it has not commented on the street’s reopening as of press time.
“More information regarding the utility tunnel repair schedule will be released at a later date,” Lucas said in the release.
The OU Board of trustees allocated about $2 million to repair the tunnel from university reserves, but Stephen Golding, vice president for Finance and Administration, said in a previous Post article he doesn’t expect to need the full amount.
All of the five to six miles worth of steam tunnel OU has will be assessed this summer, said Harry Wyatt, associate vice president of architecture, design and construction, said in a previous Post article.
The issues with the steam tunnel under Mulberry Street are similar to those that plagued University Terrace earlier this year when issues with the steam tunnel caused portions of the street to close temporarily.
“The walls and the floor are in decent shape but the roof is failing,” Andy Stone, city engineer and director of Public Works, said in a previous Post article.
Athens Public Transit, which runs the city’s buses, has moved the stop that usually is at Mulberry Street near Baker University — as well as the stop that is at South Court and Chubb Hall — to President Street.
“We are looking into temporary improvements to make the President Street stop more passenger-friendly during these months,” according to a press release on the Athens Transit website. “We haven’t heard any complaints yet, knock on wood. Things like this happen.”
But the President Street stop does not have a shelter like the Mulberry stop did, noted Mary Dailey, general manager for Athens Public Transit in a previous Post interview.
“The only thing it changes is that there is no shelter, so come a rainy day, complaints might change,” Dailey said.
@LucasDaprile
ld311710@ohiou.edu
