With several projects underway, University of Maryland traffic patterns are changing this semester. Here’s the latest on route changes and construction.

Purple Line

Construction crews will install fencing on Campus Drive from Diamondback Drive to Rossborough Lane for drainage installation and asphalt milling starting the week of Jan. 30, according to an email from Purple Line communications director David Abrams.

Work on Campus Drive will also begin in the center of campus to install drainage and wire foundations.

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The Purple Line will extend 16 miles from New Carrollton in Prince George’s County to Silver Spring and Bethesda in Montgomery County, according to a Jan. 24 university email from university Vice President Carlo Colella. Five out of the 21 stations will be on or around the campus.

The light rail will offer direct connections to the Metro, Amtrak and MARC. The Purple Line will also provide more accessible and reliable transportation for students, faculty and staff, Colella wrote.

He also urged those traveling on and around the campus to allow extra time to travel.

Work on the Purple Line will continue through the spring semester and into the summer. It will begin operating in 2026.

On-campus traffic patterns

Purple Line construction has also brought traffic pattern changes to the university campus. The traffic circle at the intersection of Campus and Regents drives has been changed to continue straight on Campus Drive. Drivers must bear left instead of right, according to Colella’s Jan. 24 email.

Campus Drive is now one-way westbound from Union Lane to Campus Drive. Union Drive will be closed from Campus Drive to Championship Drive. Alumni Drive is open.

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With traffic pattern changes, pedestrian detours will be required, the email said.

Pedestrian detours appear across the campus along Union Drive near Cole Field House, Campus Drive through the center of the campus as well as near the intersection of Regents and Campus drives. There are also detours near Turner Hall, Ritchie Coliseum and Rossborough Lane, according to Abrams.

Route 1

Route 1 is being widened to a four-lane road between College Avenue to University Boulevard, according to the Maryland Department of Transportation website. There will also be a five-foot wide bicycle lane and a raised median.

Other construction includes drainage system upgrades, resurfacing, landscaping, stormwater management and pedestrian lighting.

The project is 55 percent complete and is expected to finish late summer 2023.