The pedestrian bridges connecting the First Road garage to the Lazare Research Building and the Albert Sherman Center on the UMass Medical School campus in Worcester will close permanently on March 12.
To prepare for construction of the new education and research building on campus, a portion of the First Road garage facing the campus green will be demolished. The pedestrian bridges will be removed first, followed by partial demolition of the garage in early April.
Before the bridges close, two covered ground-level walkways will be built to provide safe pedestrian access to the section of the garage that will remain operational throughout construction. The covered walkways will have lights and security cameras.
One covered walkway will extend from the front of the LRB up the access road between the building and the garage, so pedestrians can enter on the newly designated first floor of the garage. The other covered walkway will begin near the front entrance of the Sherman Center and extend to the elevator/stair lobby on the north side of the garage.
For those walking between the LRB and the Sherman Center after March 12, the best route will be to use the covered walkways to enter the garage, then walk along the designated pathway through the garage.
When the new building is completed, it will have a walkway connecting to the garage, and new pedestrian bridges linking it to the LRB and Sherman Center.
For more information about the project, visit https://www.umassmed.edu/NERB/
