[media-credit name=’BEN CLASSON/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]

A large hole and construction fencing will block a portion of Library Mall until October, as the University of Wisconsin works to complete a utility project for the new East Campus Mall.

UW physical plant director John Harrod said Library Mall will be back to normal in time for Halloween festivities on State Street, and pedestrians will be able to navigate their way through a detour on the north side of Library Mall.

“Because of all of the traffic and congestion and everything that’s going on, we decided to start the project in the Library Mall area and get out of there as soon as we can,” Harrod said.

Along with the construction on Library Mall, two other utility projects to the west are coming to a close, and a utility project on central campus is going up Henry Mall and west on Observatory Drive has been completed.

Stemming off that project is another on the west side of campus, which is in the final stages. It has taken critical utility lines out to and around the UW Hospital and will be completed by the end of the fall.

Starting next spring, the East Campus utility project will snake its way up Bascom Hill on Observatory Drive to connect to the Education Building.

The portion on the East Campus Mall is scheduled for completion by June 2009, and the Observatory portion should be done by June 2010.

This utility project is a part of the East Campus Gateway project, which includes the new University Square. It also includes a large addition to the Chazen Museum of Art, which is scheduled for completion in 2011.

Paving and landscaping are underway on the mall, and a portion of it is now open.

“They just completed the section under University Square by University Avenue and Johnson Street,” said Gary Brown, director of planning landscaping architecture for the UW. “The section under that between Johnson and Dayton will be done as well.”

When completed, there should be a view of Lake Mendota from Dayton Street while looking down the East Campus Mall.