Regina Mathew, a freshman in the Doisy College of Health Sciences, was nervous to return to Saint Louis University after spring break and use the shuttle system for the first time since the closure of the Grand Bridge. She arrived at the shuttle stop an hour early, expecting potential delays on her way to class on the Health Sciences campus. She was surprised to arrive on the Health Sciences campus just 20 minutes later.

Mathew’s experience reflects the concerns of many in the SLU community following the closure of the Grand Boulevard viaduct. St. Louis traffic crews closed the section of Grand that lies between Chouteau Avenue and Interstate 64 on Monday, March 14 around 3:30 a.m. Demolition began the weekend of March 18-20 and will continue the weekend of March 25-27.

The project is under the direction of the Kozeny-Wagner construction firm, and according to President Patrick Kozeny, the reconstruction will generate roughly 60,000 man-hours. Crews expect to partially reopen the bridge to traffic in 14 months.

Official closure of the bridge occurred while a majority of the SLU community was on spring break. According to Joe Stumpf, Mail and Transportation Services supervisor, a lack of activity around campus allowed St. Louis motorists to find alternate routes before students returned from break. The city encouraged motorists to use Vandeventer Avenue, Compton Avenue and Jefferson Avenue as alternate routes.

Stumpf said, as of Tuesday, March 22, no problems had been reported with the shuttle system, and it seems to be running smoothly. Shuttle drivers credited the planning by Transportation Services with allowing them to take the Compton detour route and still make all of the stops on time.

Paaige Turner, associate vice president of the Frost campus and a member of the Grand Bridge Ad Hoc Committee, said the Grand Bridge closing created less disruption than anticipated, and students have recommended that the shuttles continue the alternate routes in the future.

“It seems very well planned out, and I arrived to my class five minutes after leaving the main campus,” Brianne Keller, a junior in the Doisy College of Health Sciences, said. “The alternate route may be quicker because of the lack of streetlights.”

Todd Waelterman, director of the St. Louis City Streets Department said the delay on the detour routes is around three minutes and heavier traffic congestion is occurring on Vandeventer. Jefferson Avenue may be a better alternate route to try because “traffic is moving faster now [on Jefferson] than when the [Grand] bridge was open,” he said.

During the first days after the Grand Bridge closure, delays were minimal.

“On the first day that [the bridge] closed, the longest detour time was just over four minutes, which was great,” Kara Bowlin, press secretary to St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, said.

While traffic has not become a major issue, passengers on MetroLink and Metro busses had to make adjustments to their travel schedules due to the temporary shutdown of the Grand MetroLink station.

Dianne Williams, director of communications for Metro, said that Metro customers are adjusting to these changes well and are taking a bus or two earlier than they normally would have to allow extra travel time.

“Later at night there are some missed connections we’re trying to work with; it will be better when the Grand [station] reopens again,” Williams said.

With the second weekend of demolition work approaching, Metro cannot run trains underneath the existing bridge due to safety concerns. To combat this issue, Metro will supply busses to connect passengers between the Union Station and Central West End MetroLink stations. The station will be closed until demolition work is complete and crews deem it safe for passengers to use the trains. It is expected to reopen sometime in April.

Williams said part of the city’s contract with the construction company is keeping the trains and the wires safe throughout the process.

“If it appears even after April that it’s not safe, we’re not putting people off there, but [the construction company] believes they will be able to work in a contained area,” Williams said.

Kozeny said dealing with the train and rail tracks is the biggest challenge facing the construction team.

“All of this in a tight staging area, under a very tight schedule,” Kozeny said.

According to Kozeny, collaboration between the building team and other project stakeholders will be critical to eliminating interruption to track service, delivering a safe work zone and meeting construction deadlines.

Until the Grand MetroLink stop reopens, Metro is providing alternate transportation around the SLU campus. Metro Bus will be providing a reroute of the #70 Grand Bus Service that will pick up at the Union Station MetroLink stop. The Red Northbound #70 will connect passengers to the Frost campus and the Blue Southbound #70 will connect to St. Louis University Medical Center, the Medical School and Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital.

To assist students returning to campus after spring break who would have otherwise used the Grand MetroLink station, SLU Ride provided a pick-up service at the Union Station MetroLink stop.

Will Hartzler, lead coordinator for SLU Ride, said the pick-up service was the result of collaboration between Transportation Services, Metro and the Grand Bridge Ad Hoc Committee. The committee sent out an email to all SLU students, notifying them the service would be available.

Hartzler said four vans began making pick-ups at 7 a.m. and ran throughout the day. He estimated 99 different escorts were made, bringing around 500 people back to the SLU campus. Metro workers were on hand to direct SLU students to the vans.

“It really was a multidepartment effort,” Hartzler said.

The longest wait time for a pick-up was around three minutes, and Hartzler said all students seemed to be very pleased with the service. SLU Ride plans on providing the same pick-up service during Easter Break. The details are still being worked out, and an email will be distributed to students with final details.

Overall, the precautions taken by the SLU community to prepare for the closure of the Grand Bridge have met approval from students.

“I still think I have to get to the stop about 10 or so minutes earlier than I normally would have to but it’s definitely not as bad as I thought,” Mathew said.

“The consideration for what’s going on is definitely out there,” Stumpf said. “I can actually say thank you to all of the riders on the shuttles for their cooperation with all of this as well.”