Gone are the days when Penn students could sit outside for a leisurely bite at Bitar's, take a shortcut to the University Museum or utilize the cabs lined up in front of the Quadrangle.
Now students must navigate through a blocks-long maze of construction that deafens, confuses and delays.
Two projects in particular -- water line work on 40th Street and sidewalk reconstruction on Spruce Street -- have caused traffic tie-ups and left students frustrated.
"I just wish it would have been done earlier this summer," second-year Veterinary School student Dominic Dallago said, noting that it was difficult to get over to key Spruce Street businesses such as Wawa.
The water-main repair is the city's territory, but the University is responsible for the Spruce Street sidewalk construction. Students say the Spruce construction has disrupted the taxi line in front of the Quad, tying up traffic.
"Cabs stop in the middle of the street, especially during rush hour and it's impossible to cross Spruce," Engineering junior Arathi Kumar complained.
College senior Adam Roumm said that he encountered problems "going up and down Spruce Street because you have to go to the other side of the street" to find an open sidewalk.
Both Roumm and Kumar said other campus construction -- especially on the 38th Street bridge -- is compounding the problems on Spruce Street.
"They should have finished the bridge before starting on the sidewalks so that there's at least one spot to walk on," Kumar said.
Sidewalks and crosswalks on Spruce are undergoing transformation for better pedestrian and vehicle interaction.
"We were typically having problems of double-parked vehicles... pedestrians were having problems crossing streets and crosswalks were too wide," Director of City and Community Relations Glenn Bryan said.
Bryan said the project is important because it will give delivery trucks better access to buildings on Spruce Street and allow general traffic to flow more smoothly.
"After the street is reconfigured, the City of Philadelphia will repave Spruce Street," Bryan said. "It will feel and look quite different at its completion."
"Spruce is a major street leading to [the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania], so it's important that this gets done," he added.
And while everyone may realize the importance of the construction, no one is happy with the delays.
"It's definitely hurt business," said Edward Siegle, who owns Salad Works. The restaurant is located near the corner of 38th and Spruce, which is obstructed by orange fencing that surrounds the road work.
"It's hard for anyone to get in," he said. "And for people in West Philly, they don't want to drive through all this to pick up a salad. I just hope this is over soon."
Over on 40th Street, which is a haven for retail, construction has almost become part of the natural landscape, with The Freshgrocer only recently completed and work on the new theater complex continuing at a snail's pace.
Between Walnut and Spruce streets, the city is replacing existing water and sewer lines under 40th Street that "were in horrendous shape," Bryan said.
Work on the street did not begin until July 9, about a month after it was supposed to start. This pushed the completion date back as well, and that has not pleased University officials who are concerned with the impact on retail.
"This was not a project we had hoped would extend beyond the end of the summer and it has," Executive Vice President John Fry said. "We're just doing as much as we can to move the city along."
"I've been in contact with all the various departments -- the water department, other various groups -- and asked them to expedite this as quickly as possible," Fry added.
Bryan added that Penn is working closely with the city to organize the upcoming construction schedule.
"We want to nail down a protocol... so we can better coordinate our work together," he said.
In addition to the water and sewer lines, the University also asked that this particular corridor of 40th Street be repaved after the lines were replaced. This section is completely closed off to traffic.
Pat Morelli, a spokesman from the Water Department's construction unit, said much has been done to hasten the project's completion, especially considering its impact on drivers.
"It's a heavy traffic area, so [the construction company has] been working at night," Morelli said. "It's something they try to do when there's traffic problems. We try to get it done immediately so it's less congested."
The extra work appears to be paying off, with the project's head engineer reporting that the work will be done by the end of this week.
But students have heard those promises before.
"It doesn't seem like it's ever going to end," said Engineering junior Shuo-ju Chou, whose travels are further complicated by his broken foot. "They should finish up one project before starting others, or they should do all of them at the same time but finish them up all at once."
