Alert to bus riders: GRTC has started rerouting buses off nearly a 1-mile stretch of Broad Street in Downtown during construction of stations for Pulse, the bus rapid transit system.

The detour, which went into effect Tuesday, means buses are no longer traveling along Broad Street between Belvidere and 10th streets.

Instead, buses are being routed along Franklin and Grace streets.

Buses impacted the most are on routes 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 19, 21, 24, 37 and 74, according to GRTC.

Eastbound, those buses are now turning south on Belvidere and then traveling into Downtown on Franklin Street. Most of those buses then turn north on 2nd Street and use Marshall Street to reach the bus transfer plaza at 9th Street.

Westbound, most buses leave the 9th Street transfer plaza and travel on Marshall Street to 8th Street, where they turn south to Grace Street. They travel west on Grace to Belvidere, turn north and then head west on Broad Street to resume the route.

According to GRTC spokeswoman Carrie Rose Pace, construction work is picking up, creating increased congestion and making it harder for buses to service stops.

GRTC made the shift to “ensure we can provide safe, reliable service around the work zones,” she stated.

GRTC is using existing bus stops on Franklin and Grace streets, she added.

Riders on 29 others routes are largely unaffected.

At this point, GRTC cannot pinpoint a date when the detours will end.

Originally, the Pulse was expected to start running by the end of October. However, because of construction delays, GRTC has indicated that December or January is a more likely timeframe for its start.