Managing Editor

University of Houston facility designers will have to wait a little longer to proceed with plans connected to the completion of State Highway 35.

Phase one of the project, which will eventually bring an eight-lane thoroughfare along the east side of campus, was originally slated to be completed this summer, but unusually heavy rains have pushed that projection back to the spring of 1999, said Director of Architectural Services Ronald Shoup.

State Highway 35 has been on the drawing boards since the 1960s as a way to alleviate traffic flow along Interstate 45 South, said Tim Newton, supervising design engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation.

The completed expressway will run just east of the university from I-45 to Bellfort, south of Interstate 610.

The first phase of construction includes completion of on/off-ramps and feeder roads that will directly serve UH.

The new highway will result in changes for the university including plans to redesign the east entrance to the campus to tie into the new highway.

The new highway will be "a service to the campus" because SH 35 will allow commuters easier access to and from campus, James Berry, associate vice chancellor for UH System Facilities Planning and Construction, told The Daily Cougar in September.

"Students will no longer have to wait at stop lights along Calhoun when entering the campus but will be able to exit I-45 and drive straight to Entrance 1."

Calhoun will be reduced to a two-lane university road from Entrance 19 to Wheeler that is permanently closed off from outside traffic.

"The design will greatly improve that side of campus. High speed traffic will no longer be dumped off I-45 onto Calhoun," Shoup said.

"The traffic flow will be smooth, and law students won't have to fear for their lives as they cross the street."

For now, businesses along Calhoun including the Pizza Hut, strip center and gas station, will not be affected.

Though no definite plans have been made to change the newly defined east edge of campus, Shoup said there are several ideas on the drawing board.

One suggestion is to create a buffer between the new highway and UH by reforesting the area south of the Law Center.

Another thought is to turn some of the excess area into additional parking.

There has even been discussion of, in the distant future, replacing the strip center and gas station with a multi-purpose student service facility.

"It would be nice to have a full service center for students that was easily accessible from the highway ... So students wouldn't have to walk all the way into E. Cullen," Shoup said.

Such a center would include registration, parking, financial aid and other student services.

The wooded areas and the original architecture of the school are very important considerations to any plans to change or build in the area, Shoup said.

"The main point is to make the area the most attractive and most the functional possible."