Inside Iowa State

Sept. 8, 2006

Digging began this week at the site of the future alumni center, south of Stephens Auditorium. Photo by Bob Elbert.

Making good use of soil

If you travel on Elwood Drive over the next few weeks, you'll likely see a lot of soil being moved around. Right now, about a thousand truckloads are coming out of the new alumni center site on Beach Avenue. Here's the scoop:

Where's the soil going? Some soil will fill in the northwest corner of Elwood Drive and Lincoln Way to facilitate future landscape improvements and to flatten out the land to make the steam vaults there more accessible for maintenance. But most of the soil will be spread out along the north side of South 16th Street, starting from Elwood and moving east. This is in anticipation of the road being widened, a project not yet scheduled.

More soil in late fall or early spring: More soil is scheduled to start moving later this fall, following groundbreaking for the College of Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital and Diagnostic Laboratory renovation project. About half of this soil also will be spread along South 16th. The other half will be stored near the Vet Med campus for future projects.

Sustainable action and future savings: "By keeping the soil in proximity to the construction sites and on campus, we reduce the impact of the project on roadways and on fuel consumption and pollution associated with soil hauling," said Cathy Brown of facilities, planning and management. "We also avoid having to buy the soil at a later date, generating savings to the university through lower construction costs."

"By keeping the soil in proximity to the construction sites and on campus, we reduce the impact of the project on roadways and on fuel consumption and pollution associated with soil hauling. We also avoid having to buy the soil at a later date, generating savings to the university through lower construction costs."

Cathy Brown of facilities, planning and management