Work on the four-story, $84 million Student Innovation Center begins this spring and will continue for about three years. During that time, several other west campus projects will be completed, and facilities planning and management staff have held campus forums in recent weeks to share preliminary plans and invite questions and feedback.
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Details, maps of west campus projects
One project will expand chilled water service (used to cool building air and equipment) on a built-up west side of campus. The underground space available to do this is beneath Bissell Road, so that west artery will be removed and replaced. The northern-most block of Bissell (west of the Armory) is the only section not impacted by this project, which will be phased over two summers, 2018 and 2019.
After thirty years of resurfacing and patching efforts, Welch Road/Union Drive also will be removed and replaced from Lincoln Way through the Bissell Road intersection during summer 2018. In addition to serving as a south entry to campus, that stretch of road currently features nine crosswalks, noted campus planner Cathy Brown during a Feb. 15 forum in Elings Hall.
Both projects will be summer projects, but will require more than a three-month summer window. Brown said work will begin in March or April each spring so the work is complete by mid-August when larger numbers of first-time students come to campus.
Access gates are a possible addition on both road projects, Brown said. Permit holders for parking lots inside any gate and CyRide buses would have access, but the intent would be to reduce the volume of through traffic and improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists, she said.
Both road projects are in the early design phase. Designs should be finalized by November, with the projects bid by January 2018 and the work beginning that spring.
The facts
Student Innovation Center
- Price: $84 million
- Phase I: March-Fall 2017, demolition of Nuclear Engineering Laboratory and Old Sweeney, utility preparation at the site
- Phase 2: Fall 2017-January 2020, building construction
- Notes: Pedestrian walkways will be maintained around the project site (and may change). During construction, Sweeney Hall loading dock temporarily will move to the north side of the building.
Welch Road/Union Drive reconstruction between Lincoln Way and Bissell Road
- Price: $2.5-$3 million
- April-August 2018 (work could be phased to accommodate summer visitors, if necessary)
Bissell Road reconstruction and underground utility expansion (chilled water system)
- Price: $7.5-$8.5 million
- Phase I: March-August 2018, from Osborn Drive to midpoint of Student Innovation Center construction site
- Phase 2: March-August 2019, from midpoint of building construction site to Union Drive
Related stories
Spring demolitions will clear Student Innovation Center site, Feb. 9, 2017
New building will be a student-centered collaboration zone, Jan. 12, 2017
