Construction will begin in late November on a pedestrian and bicycle underpass at Shields and Elizabeth, proposed by the city and Colorado State University.

Construction will begin with utility relocation and work on the CSU campus, near Moby Arena.

The project closed the far south end of parking lot #195 in Moby Arena on Nov. 14 for the duration of construction, to provide a staging area to the contractor. This impacted 55 parking spaces, that are primarily metered.

Construction along Elizabeth Street, near the Campus West Shops, will begin in late spring. Construction is projected to be completed by the fall of 2017.

In Spring 2017, project planners expect to close Shields Street to allow construction of the underpass between the southwest corner of the intersection and Campus West Shops. The closure will last for about four weeks, depending on weather.

CSU will fund the $10.8 million project and oversee construction.

“We expect that the underpass will be a significant safety benefit by separating travel modes,” said Tim Kemp, city project manager. “This project will help the city manage continued and projected population growth as redevelopment occurs along the West Elizabeth corridor.”

The intersection of Elizabeth and Shields is a densely populated intersection. Traffic engineers estimate that 50,000 cars and 2,000 bikes enter the Shields and Elizabeth intersection each day with volumes increasing by more than 20 percent since 2009.

The city and CSU are currently working on scheduling a public open house in early December to discuss construction phasing, detour routes and traffic impacts.

Reporter Karissa Miller can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter at @KarissaMiller17.