After years of thousands of students walking across Library Mall, the sidewalks were finally showing their age.

“There were a lot of cracks, stones and bricks were missing,” said Ald. Todd Jarrell, District 8. “It was just a rundown piece of property.”

As a result, city officials decided it was time to reconstruct the area.

“The construction will revamp the whole center area,” Jarrell said. “They will use an asphalt type material in a brick pattern.”

According to Jarrell the construction was expected to be completed prior to the summer session, but officials expect it to be complete in a few weeks.

Students and vendors have been inconvenienced by the construction but there are mixed opinions of whether it has effected business.

Erica Charles, an employee of the University Bookstore said that it was business as usual despite the construction.

“It hasn’t been noisy and I don’t think it has deterred any customers,” she said.

However, some businesses are feeling the blow of the construction. Loose Juice a vendor in Library Mall has had slow business since the onset of the construction.

“It has been a little bit slower, there just aren’t as many people around,” an employee of Loose Juice said.

Despite all of the commotion caused by the construction, students and vendors will be back to their normal routines shortly in a newly renovated Library Mall.

“Its gone on longer than expected but it shouldn’t take longer than a few more weeks,” Jarrell said.