Once the city of Muncie widens Neely Avenue, there will no longer be street parking.
The section of Neely Avenue from Ball State’s campus to Minnetrista is being redone in an effort to beautify the area. After the street is widened and a median added, there will no longer be on-street parking allowed in that section, according to Duke Campbell, superintendent of Muncie Street Department.
“Neely is a heavily traveled road, for one thing … a lot of people use [it],” Campbell said. “[It’s] going to look the same going out of Ball State’s campus coming out to Minnestrista with plantings and a median, sidewalks, of course the road resurfaced. It should be nice.”
Campbell said the construction should begin in June, and the city will work with Neely residents to iron out any parking concerns they have.
Rachel DeWitt, a sophomore criminal justice major, said the construction will be an inconvenience for her. DeWitt is renting a house on Neely Avenue with five other people in the fall. She hadn’t heard about the construction when she signed her lease.
“I don’t think I would like [the parking restrictions], because we have parking spots for our house, if we have friends who come over, where are they supposed to park?” DeWitt said. “[The construction] will be really inconvenient if it’s going on during the school year … it will be loud.”
Eldon Buck, owner of Buck Rentals, said the construction on Neely will benefit Ball State and the area. While the lack of on-street parking will be an inconvenience to some residents, he said the improvement to the overall appearance of the street is worth it.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Buck said. “I think the entrance to Ball State will be magnified, [and] will be a lot nicer coming from [North Wheeling Avenue] into the university.”
Buck Rentals rents out five houses on Neely Avenue, including DeWitt’s. Buck said he isn’t worried about renting the houses, even with the construction and the parking restrictions, because they are in high demand.
Campbell does not see any problems arising because of the construction. Instead, he said the new road will be a nice addition to the area and will increase property values.
“We want to get as much connectivity from Ball State to Muncie and to some of our assets like Minnetrista,” Campbell said. “We just wanted to beautify that area and make it much more walkable.”
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