Sidewalks on the south side of campus are closed due to the installation of a Denver water main, to complete a fire loop running from Gaylord Street to High Street.

The sidewalk will be dug up, the water main will be installed and the ground will be re-terraced. The entire process could take several months.

The closed sidewalk starts on the north side of the Hilltop apartments and runs east, almost to Cherrington Hall, forcing students to walk either to the east side of Cherrington Hall or to the west of Nelson Hall on High Street.

“We want to accommodate the students, but at the same time we need to get our work done,” said Jim Greathead, project manager for the facilities management department.

According to Greathead, the project is estimated to take one to three months, and the intersections with the main sidewalks will be the first to be completed.

The construction has been planned since 2000 as part of the $41 million project for the construction of a new dorm, Nelson Hall.

The city of Denver requires fire hydrants to be installed every several hundred feet, but since DU is private property, it has not met this code yet. The new sidewalk will be brick and will match the existing sidewalks around J-Mac. Also, new lights and fire hydrants will be placed along it.

The existing water main often breaks in cold weather, but the new one will be stronger and will have taps running to all the dorms and apartments in the area, Greathead said.

The area is surrounded by a fence put up Saturday, and the blockage it creates makes same students upset.

Freshman J-Mac resident Kristin Shaw doesn’t like the detour and, like many other students, jumps the fence on her way to class instead of walking around.

“I don’t get it. Why don’t they do this sort of thing in the summer when the students aren’t here?” asked Shaw.

According to Greathead, the fence is there for students’ protection and students should stay away from the construction.