Construction Around Campus Worries Students Ahead Of Fall Semester

Since last May, the city of Oxford and the Ole Miss Campus have undergone heavy construction causing delays and irritation for students and residents.
The Ole Miss campus and parts of Highway 6 have seen large amounts of construction that has gone on for over a year now and residents and students are growing seemingly impatient.
Ole Miss student and Oxford resident Jacob Holcombe says all this construction is causing him delays and frustration.
“I live in the Retreat and I usually take highway 6 to get to Chucky Mullins to connect to campus,” says Holcombe “I have to go all the way around the highway and it takes forever.”
Chucky Mullins drive has been closed down for over two months and Highway 6 has been reduced to one lane due to construction at the Jackson Avenue Exit.

Holcombe says he went back home in early May and expected the construction to be done by the time he returned.
“I am taking summer classes in July, “says Holcombe “The traffic is worse now than it was when I left in May, it seems this whole year the construction has seemingly piled on.”
Since last May when the Universtiy began to undergo renovations on the student union, construction on campus has doubled and traffic has been rerouted around the projects. 
Blake King, an employee at the J.D Williams Library believes the University didn’t think that the construction would last so long.
“Getting around the construction on campus is even worse than getting to campus,” says King “I think the university had good intentions waiting until the summer for renovations, they just didn’t quite realize how long it would take.”
Ole Miss student and Oxford resident, Reid Gill, admits that all of the construction has bothered him, but claims it should be a priority to the University to finish the construction before the fall semester starts.
“If the traffic is this bad and its July,” Says Gill “wait till fall semester starts and the whole school is back and a new and even bigger freshman class comes thru.”
While discussing the temporary closing of All-American Drive back in January, Director of Public Relations for the University, Jon Scott told HottyToddy.com that the school works to keep a constant balance between keeping campus running and continuing to build. 
“We review our projects on a case-by-case basis. We know that building buildings can be an inconvenient activity. It’s a constant balance of keeping the university running while providing the highest quality facilities possible,” Scott said. 
Chucky Mullins is set to reopen sometime before fall semester starts and the Student Union is projected is expected to be completed in stages. The expansion will be complete before this fall and the complete renovation will be done by the fall of 2018. 

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Ryan Thorton is a student at the Meek School of Journalism. He can be reached at rlthornt@go.olemiss.edu.