Though ground has broken and construction is underway on the Law School’s new academic building, plans to close the block of Monroe Street between the Law Quad and this new academic building and replace it with a pedestrian mall are far from fruition.

University officials proposed the construction of a pedestrian mall on Monroe Street between South State Street and Oakland Avenue approximately one year ago. However, officials admit that much still needs to be done before the pedestrian mall can become a reality.

Jim Kosteva, director of community relations at the University, said the request to close off the block has been pending before the Ann Arbor City Council for more than a year.

“Our request is still pending in front of the city authorities, and we are awaiting a hearing before the City Planning Commission,” Kosteva said in an interview yesterday.

If the City Council approves the proposal, upgrades to area utilities would be needed, Kosteva said, including improvements to nearby waterlines.

Kosteva said local traffic is another point of consideration, since some Ann Arbor residents believe a change to the street would create traffic problems at other locations in the immediate vicinity.

However, Kosteva said he’s not concerned about any potential traffic problems and doesn’t believe the traffic changes would impact local citizens.

“The traffic analysis that we had done gave us enough comfort to say that, ‘Yes there’s bound to be changes in the traffic patterns, but none, in our view, that would cause such a significant disruption or have a significant impact to the area,’ ” Kosteva said.

No specific funding source for the project has been identified, though Kosteva said University resources and fundraising efforts would support the project.

Kosteva said he believes the mall, if constructed, would strongly benefit the University.

“It would help create another unique campus place and it would support a strong connection between the existing law school facilities and the new South Hall addition,” Kosteva said.

Many law students also said they believe a pedestrian mall would have a positive impact.

Third-year Law student Jake Weixler said he thinks the pedestrian mall could improve student safety.

“It might provide a safe passage between (the Law Quad) and the new building,” Weixler said.

Second-year Law student Emily Haigh said that like the benches added to the Law Quad, the University could benefit from the aesthetic value of a pedestrian mall.

Although it has been a long process so far, Kosteva said he remains optimistic.

“We’re hopeful that we can get in front of the Planning Commission sometime within the next three months,” he said.