Inside Iowa State
May 3, 1996
Utilities project will bring temporary shut-offs
by Anne Dolan
Utilities work on the west side ofcampus this summer
temporarily will shut off some services in 11 buildings and
close Bissell Road between Osborn and Union drives. The work,
which began last month, is a $2.3 million effort to extend
utility services -- storm and sanitary sewers, steam and
chilled water lines, electricity, water and tele-
communications -- to the western fringe of campus along
Sheldon Avenue.
The utilities will support the new Student Health Center, under construction west of Beyer Hall, and the future Engineering Teaching and Research Complex, south of the College of Design.
Many of the university's utility lines currently end somewhere between the west side of Marston Hall and Bissell Road, said David Miller, director of utilities.
"There clearly is a new western boundary to campus. We're acknowledging that and preparing for it with this project," he said.
Buildings that will have at least one utility service affected this summer are Black Engineering, Exhibit Hall, Engineering Annex, Engineering Research Institute, Lab of Mechanics, Nuclear Engineering Laboratory, Marston, Coover, Sweeney and Pearson halls and the Durham Center.
A utilities "corridor" is under construction along the north side of Black Engineering, under Bissell Road and along the north side of Beyer Hall. For now, that means a few closed sidewalks and some big holes on the west side of Bissell Road. On Monday, June 3, Bissell Road will close and remain closed until the end of July.
The section of the utilities corridor north of Black Engineering will be constructed in two sections to keep open the service driveway to the Engineering Annex and Pearson Hall.
Perhaps the most significant inconvenience this summer will be a temporary loss of air conditioning as buildings are connected to the new chilled water line. When possible, Miller said, those connections will be made on weekends or days of low humidity. Once an old connection is cut, work continues around the clock until the new connection is complete, he said. The process will last up to 48 hours, he said.
"We're trying to stay sensitive to the ebb and flow of activity on this campus and we will do our best to accommodate special circumstances. But this isn't a 9-to-5 kind of place and we can't guarantee that no one will be inconvenienced," Miller said.
Randy Larabee, the university's project manager, is sending, via e-mail, weekly updates on the progress of the work. Those who would like to be on the update mailing list may send e- mail addresses to Larabee, rlarabee@iastate.edu.
Miller said employees also will be notified of upcoming work through fliers posted in buildings and updates in Inside Iowa State and on the Iowa State World Wide Web homepage.
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