Workers this week were finishing a new pedestrian walkway along the construction site for the F.W. Olin Center that will connect Reamer Campus
Center with the roadway between Science and Engineering and Campus Operations.
Under the new pattern, shown in the accompanying map,
pedestrians enter or exit Reamer from the north patio doors facing Jackson's Garden.
A paved walkway goes east from Reamer toward the roadway between Science and Engineering
and Campus Operations.
“Due to the heavy construction traffic there is
concern for potential injury to pedestrians,” said Paul Mantica, director of campus
safety. “To avoid that and make the area more safe, we have created a new path to
direct pedestrians to a less-congested area about 30 yards to the north of the Olin
site.”
The east door of Reamer Campus Center will remain open,
but only for pedestrian traffic to and from Social Sciences.
Pedestrians may use the current walkway from the east side
of Reamer to Campus Operations when construction is not under way at the Olin site –
weekdays from 5 p.m. to 7 a.m. and weekends.
Construction vehicles enter the Olin site from a gate near
Science and Engineering. Vehicles making deliveries to Reamer access the building from a
second gate about 50 yards to the west. The pedestrian walkway traverses both roadways.
Meanwhile, access to the west entrance of Science and
Engineering and the walk from Social Sciences to Alexander Lane is unchanged. Workers have
finished a new sidewalk between Science and Engineering/Bailey Hall and the Schaffer site
and Alumni Gymnasium. They also will fine grade and seed the areas near the sidewalks.
At Schaffer Library, the structural steel was completed in
mid-August, said William Shafer, capital projects manager. Fireproofing, ductwork and
plumbing were being installed this week. Work on the exterior walls will continue this
fall.
At the Olin site, masons this week were adding block to
the north and south walls, Shafer said, and forms for the west entry were being poured
this week.