Two road projects connected to new student housing complexes could cause traffic tie-ups for Statesboro commuters during business hours this week, the Georgia Department of Transportation announced Monday.
    From today through Friday, weather permitting, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., one lane on northbound South Main Street will be closed between Veterans Memorial Parkway and Old Register Road.
    The lane closure will be used for new deceleration lanes and access drives to South Main from the new Monarch301 apartment complex, which is scheduled to be open in time for the fall 2013 semester and cater mainly to Georgia Southern University students.
    Monarch301 will have 180 units housing 546 students.
    Northbound Fair Road, between Burkhalter Road and Veterans Memorial Parkway, also will have a lane closed today through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., weather permitting. This is the continuation of an ongoing project.
    This lane closure will be used for drainage relocation and new deceleration lanes and access drives to Fair Road for the new Aspen Heights development, another housing complex catering to Georgia Southern students that is slated to open in time for next fall.
    Aspen Heights will add 1,087 beds in 339 units. Unlike Monarch301, another new complex called One Eleven South being built on the former site of the Varsity Lodge apartments on Rucker Lane, and the recently opened Forum at Statesboro, Aspen Heights uses duplexes, row houses and cottages instead of apartments.