Parking garage construction on South Fraser Street and Beaver Avenue will cause traffic to be redirected over the next few months.

Until March 23, Fraser Street will be limited to a single lane from Highland Alley to Beaver Avenue, Amy Story, borough engineer, said.

She added that during this time, Beaver Avenue will also have a single lane in the segment in front of the parking garage construction between Fraser and Burrowes streets.

However, from March 24 to April 8, Fraser Street will be completely closed from Highland Alley to Beaver Avenue, Story said.

The parking garage was expected to be finished in July, but the project's completion has been delayed until Aug. 1 because more rock had to be excavated from underneath the garage than was originally expected, public works director Mark Whitfield said.

"Realistically, [it] couldn't happen in the time frame we had hoped," he said.

Leonard S. Fiore, Inc. started construction in the fall of the six-story parking garage that will hold 525 cars.

Paul Jovanis, Transportation Commission member, said they are proposing to a plan to reconfigure the intersection around the parking garage.

The intersection at Fraser Street and Beaver Avenue is currently a "three-legged intersection," which means the streets are not aligned in the more common plus-sign formation, which are found at other intersections, such as Garner Street and Beaver Avenue.

Reconfiguring them would align the streets to provide for a more efficient signal arrangement, Whitfield said.

"It would make the operation of the intersection much more simple," Jovanis said.

He added that a date has not been set for the reconfiguration because the plans are still under discussion.

Fraser Street was completely closed last week to assemble a crane, and will be closed again sometime in middle to late May to disassemble it.

Whitfield said the crane will set pre-cast concrete blocks, which are manufactured at another location, into place at the parking garage site.

Darin Verbeck, manager of Pennsylvania Pizza, 222 W. Beaver Ave., said most of the restaurant's business relies on pedestrian traffic, which has decreased because of the crane and construction blocking that side of the street.

"In places like New York City, they reimburse small businesses," he said. "They should have some sort of reimbursement plan."

Verbeck said he just took over the business and is having a difficult time drawing in customers with the construction in front of his restaurant.

"I don't think [the State College Borough Council] really understand ... or they just don't care," he said. "It's killing us."

However, Bill Besecker, manager of The Camera Shop, 311 W. Beaver Ave., is not worried about the construction.

"I think in the long run [the parking garage] will be a benefit," he said. "If people need [our product], they'll come."

Besecker added that traffic volumes depend on the time of day, mid-morning and afternoon being busiest.

"We try to let customers know about [the construction]," he said.