Even though the structural work is finished on the Prospect Street Bridge, it is not yet ready to reopen, so 9:25 a.m. classes will continue to start and end five minutes early this semester.

The bridge, which has been under repair since last May, will remain closed to vehicle traffic. The renovation was originally scheduled to finish in June 2010, coinciding with the opening of the new University Health Services Building. Construction ran six months ahead of schedule, City Engineer Richard Miller said, but the original timetable is being kept in order to coordinate all the related utilities.

“The whole area is changing completely,” Miller said. “We’re trying to have everything ready as soon as possible to reopen the bridge without having to close it again.”

The bridge has not been installed with traffic signals or parapets as of Christmas Day, he said, but it has reopened to pedestrian and bicycle traffic.

An extensive sewer separation process under the neighboring Trumbull, Sachem, Lock and Canal streets is expected to begin around March, which may delay the reopening of the Prospect Street Bridge, Miller said.

According to a campuswide e-mail from University Registrar Jill Carlton, the continued closure requires the blue, green and red lines of the Yale shuttle bus to run on their revised routes, which accounts for the adjusted class schedule. The five-minute shift is designed to give students extra travel time to return from Science Hill.