Road construction began Monday on a new speed bump on one of USF’s busiest roads — Holly Drive. The speed bump, which will also function as a raised crosswalk, will be located 400 ft. west of Maple Drive near the newly erected Cypress Hall residence halls.

“This is a situation where we’ve, over the last two years, I guess, added 900 new beds of housing up at that corner of campus,” said John White, architect for USF Facilities Planning and Construction.

The crosswalk is meant to slow down the traffic nearing this now-populated area. Right now, students living in the dorms can utilize a flush brick crosswalk, but White said it is located at the bottom of a hill, a part of the road where vehicles reach their maximum speed.

“Dr. (Tom) Kane at residence services had asked that we look into making that into a raised crosswalk,” White said.

But for the six weeks until the end of construction, predicted to be Jan. 7, commuters will bear the biggest burden — having to deal with lane closures.

“There will be two-way traffic maintained during the entire construction process,” White said. “We will start crossing traffic to collapse it from two lanes down to one lane after you cross Maple Drive.”

The crosswalk will be similar to one located down the road, also on Holly Drive, but not as wide, White said.

“It will be about five inches high, it will be raised up even with the curb,” White said. “It will be a raised brick crosswalk (with) asphalt apron approaches and a nice addition to that corner of campus.”

For the time being, traffic will be restricted to one lane in each direction and commuters are advised to find alternate routes, as the area is expected to be highly congested during peak hours.

Oracle Managing Editor Olga Robak contributed to this report.