The drive along 19th Street is probably where most people get a glimpse of Texas Tech.

It’s a nice view of the campus, but with its bare dirt median, it’s not much to look at if a driver looks straight ahead.

The street doesn’t look like the frontage road near a major university, local and state leaders acknowledge, but Texas Tech is partnering with the Texas Department of Transportation and the City of Lubbock to change that with a more than $2.6 million facelift aimed to add splashes of color and safety features to the area.

Over the summer, a beautification/public improvement project is expected to begin on a 1.5-mile stretch of 19th Street parallel to the university. The focus of the beautification is on the median, while the public improvement aims to create better safety measures for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers.

"It’s an eyesore" said Michael Molina, Tech’s vice chancellor of facilities planning and construction. "You’ll see a change all the way down from Memphis to University (Avenues). It’s a median beautification plan that is centric around safety."

The project is in line with what Molina called his "spaces in between" initiative, adding that the buildings on campus already look attractive, but getting to and from them needs to be just as aesthetically appealing. This focus on landscape and urban design has led to improvements to Urbanovsky Park — the campus park now features a pond, more trees and the open "hill amphitheater." Another area that’s been restored is west of the library near the Dairy Barn that has outdoor seats with added plants and trees.

No more than six years ago these areas were either just dirt or worn-out grass. So beautification has been a focus, and now campus leaders are taking aim at what is probably the most visible project: the median on 19th Street that right now is just concrete, gravel and dirt (and weeds in the spring and summer).

Traffic lanes and the width of the median won’t change under this project. Molina said the median will be dug out and replaced with a mix of concrete patterns and areas for native landscaping and plants.

"It’ll be dug out, irrigated where it needs to be and replaced with softscape plants and materials," Molina said. "Some of those are pretty amazing. You’ll see some nice color schemes as you drive down the street either way."

This project is in partnership with TxDOT since 19th Street across from Tech is technically Highway 62. So TxDOT will contract to dig up the median and put in the concrete patterns, while Tech’s grounds maintenance crew does the planting. The city will then maintain it once it’s complete.

As for the safety improvements, the project also includes a 10-foot-wide shared-use path on the Tech campus near the curb for pedestrians and bicycles. This is so bicyclists will no longer be forced to ride on the street. Along the crosswalks on Flint and Boston Avenues, the curbs will be flattened to make the paths more accessible to bicycles and there will be an added "nose" extension in the median to provide extra protection for people waiting to cross at the median.

Dianah Ascencio, a spokeswoman for TxDOT in Lubbock, sent the following information to A-J Media:

"The project will make improvements to the existing medians, create a shared-use path for pedestrians and bicycles, update curbs and ramps to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards, roadway striping, some roadway improvements in selected areas and landscaping improvements… Our hope is that the improvements made to 19th Street will improve safety and encourage pedestrians and bike riders to use the signalized intersections to cross the road."

Ascencio said the cost of making these improvements is being funded through a state transportation alternatives fund, which she said are funds available to improve alternative means of transportation like pedestrian walkways for shared-use paths. A construction schedule has not yet been set, but TxDOT has secured the funding and has accepted bids for a construction contract.

City Councilman Jeff Griffith, whose district includes this area, said he’s proud of these entities for coming together to take care of such a high-profile area.

Also regarding safety, Griffith said, the project would limit curbside parking on the south side of 19th Street to avoid having students park and run across the street in 45 mph traffic.

Details for the parking change haven’t been finalized, but Griffith said that’s what the city is hoping to include with these other changes.

"Student safety is a big component," Griffith said. "We’ve got a lot of kids running across the street to get to class. We feel like this is a good proactive move, to limit the parking on the residential, south side. Yes, we’re after beautification, but public safety is very important too."

By beautifying the median and making the crosswalks safer and more convenient, Griffith said he’s hopeful more students are encouraged to use crosswalks.