As UAB Facilities continues to enhance our campus environment – through new buildings, renovations of buildings and creation of essential utility infrastructure – there are occasional impacts to sidewalks and roadways. This spring, there are seven projects that might require you take an alternative route to your destination.

Take note of these construction projects and graphics to ensure you know what areas to steer clear of. You can also use UAB Transportation’s Blazer Express system to get around campus as routes are altered to avoid these impacts.

• This project will renovate the building’s 2nd-4th floors, including a new lobby, as part of an ongoing multi-phase, multi-year renovation plan. This phase of the project is expected to be complete by May 2024.
• The following impacts to sidewalk and lanes will be in effect through the end of the project:
  • The north sidewalk of University Boulevard between 19th and 20th streets south will be closed through the end of the project.
  • West bound lanes of University Boulevard impacted periodically throughout the project timeframe.

• The building is located at Seventh Avenue South between 19th and 20th streets at the former site of the Kracke Building and Pittman Center for Advanced Medical Studies. The 175,000-square-foot building will bring together researchers, equipment and staff for the Hugh Kaul Precision Medicine Institute, the Informatics Institute and translational scientists from many different disciplines and involves a renovation of the existing Lyons-Harrison Research Building. UAB broke ground on the project in April 2022, and construction is expected to be completed in spring 2024.
• The following impacts to sidewalk, lanes and parking will be in effect through the end of the project:
  • The east sidewalk of 19th Street South has been moved under a covered pedestrian walkway.
  • The north sidewalk of 7th Avenue South is closed to pedestrians.
  • The east lane of 19th Street South has been closed to traffic.
  • Street parking along 7th Avenue South has been blocked off.
  • 7th Avenue and 19th St will be impacted periodically throughout the project timeframe.

• A new 405,000-square-foot parking deck at 14th Street South and 7th Avenue will provide more than 1,150 new parking spaces. Construction began in December 2022 and projected completion is March 2024.
• Review the following impacts to sidewalk, lanes and parking around this project:
  • 14th Street South:
    • On-street parking along the east side of 14th Street South is closed until March 2024.
    • The east sidewalk of 14th Street South is closed through at least March 2024.
    • All travel lanes and on-street parking on the west side of the street are open.
  • 7th Avenue South
    • Between 14th and 15th streets south:
      1. Travel lanes are shifted, but two-way traffic is open.
      2. On-street parking is unavailable on both sides of the street through March 2024.
      3. The north sidewalk of 7th Avenue South is closed through March 2024.

• The new and improved building, created through an agreement between the Jefferson County Commission and the UAB Health System to form the Cooper Green Mercy Health Services Authority in April 2020, will replace the former Cooper Green parking deck located on Sixth Avenue South between Children’s of Alabama and Bartow Arena; the deck was demolished in early 2022. The new Cooper Green Mercy Health building will be five stories and 211,000 square feet. Overall estimated cost is $120 million; the project’s groundbreaking was Jan. 9th, and completion is expected in early 2025.
• Review the following impacts to sidewalk, lanes and parking around this project:
  • The south lane and sidewalk of 6th Avenue South between 14th and 15th streets south will be closed through Sept. 2024.

• The new UAB Science and Engineering Complex, currently under construction on the site of the former Education Building on 14th Street South between University Boulevard and 10th Avenue South, will be home to campus’ basic sciences programs, including the departments of Biology and Physics and teaching labs for the Department of Chemistry. UAB broke ground on the project in fall 2021; completion is expected by May 2023, and classes will begin in fall 2023.
• The west sidewalk of 14th Street South is closed to pedestrians until April.

• The project is an extension of the UAB Central Utilities steam and chilled water underground service mains routed through the Cultural Arts District of campus. The project will connect to existing utility infrastructure near the Collat School of Business and Sterne Library. This extension will enable current and future UAB buildings in the Cultural Arts District – including the Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center, Hulsey Center, Education and Engineering Complex and Humanities Building – to connect to the UAB Central Utilities system. Currently connected buildings experience energy savings with lower heating and cooling operating costs from a reliable utility source.
• Review the following impacts to sidewalk and lanes around this project:
  • 12th Street South is open to access the University Boulevard Office Building (UBOB) parking deck, known as the 12th Street Parking Deck. The road is closed south of the deck through April.
    • The deck may also be accessed from 13th Street South 
    • Lot 65 can be accessed from 13th Street South.
  • The west sidewalk on 13th Street South, the southbound on-street parking and the outer southbound traffic lane will remain closed through April 30th.
  • Several sidewalks near the Education and Engineering Complex, Humanities Building and the Jerry D. Young Memorial Baseball Field will be impacted by this project. See the graphic for more detail.

• UAB broke ground on its replacement inpatient rehabilitation facility May 6, 2022. The $156.7 million, 350,000-square-foot project, located at Seventh Avenue South and 18th Street, will replace the existing Spain Rehabilitation Center. The new facility is slated to open in 2025.
• Review the following impacts to sidewalk, lanes and parking around this project:
  • 7th Avenue South between 16th and 18th streets south is closed to traffic.
  • The south sidewalk on 7th Avenue South is open to pedestrians.
  • The north sidewalk along 7th Avenue South is open to pedestrians in front of Chauncey Sparks Center but is closed to pedestrians west of Sparks for the duration of the project.
  • Traffic leaving the Callahan Eye Hospital parking deck must flow eastbound along 7th Avenue South.