Published 2011-08-23T20:26:00Z”/>
Griffin Rogers
Students may hear the roar of tractors and the pounding of nails echoing across the street the next two semesters, but they are safe from construction on campus – at least for now.
Changes will be seen around campus this semester as construction of a new parking garage continues in addition to improvements on the First Street Promenade.
These efforts are the beginning of a series of projects dedicated to modernizing and reshaping parts of the university over the next few years, said Joe Wills, director of Public Affairs and Publications.
The latest improvement came to the Trinity Commons area, where BCM Construction worked on a $1.4 million contract to install new underground utilities such as sewer lines and steam lines, said Lori Hoffman, vice president of Business and Finance, in an email interview.
Wills said the next phase of the project will be the creation a new arts and humanities building in place of Taylor Hall. It will begin after the Normal Avenue parking structure is complete, allowing University Police to move its headquarters to the garage.
“The arts and humanities building will make a big contribution to campus,” Wills said.
Construction of the building is expected to begin in 2013, he said.
Eventually, refurbishments on West First Street will continue to Normal Avenue, Wills said. The city is planning the construction of a roundabout where West First and Salem streets meet.
The new parking structure on West Second Street and Normal Avenue began construction a few weeks ago and six months ahead of schedule. The university saw the benefits of starting early and disrupting only one academic year instead of two, Wills said. Its estimated completion is September 2012.
The Normal Avenue parking structure is the answer to the university’s long-time goal of adding hundreds of parking spaces to Chico State. The school ranks the lowest in terms of parking spaces per student of all 23 California State Universities, Wills said.
The structure will add 359 parking spaces and feature other amenities such as charging stations for electric cars.
Meanwhile, Chico State has leased a parking lot on West Sacramento Avenue to make up for the loss of parking spaces currently under construction, which has temporarily increased the overall number of spaces for the fall 2011 semester.
Many of the new renovations across campus, including the West First Street and parking structure projects, have been in the university’s master plan since 2005 and lead as far back as the completion of the Student Services Center in 2008.
Existing funds from these past projects were used toward the development of new projects such as the Student Services Center Plaza last summer. Leftover funds from the West First Street construction project will be put toward the construction of the arts and humanities building, Hoffman said.
“The remaining source of funding for the project is from non-state funds,” she said. “There is no bond funding or money from the state in the project.”
All projects are running on, or ahead of, schedule. There was only a brief setback to the First Street project in the Trinity Commons area over the summer.
“When Chico experienced the unprecedented late June storm, the project lost over a week of construction work,” Hoffman said. “We had a 15-foot deep pool of water for several days.”
Regardless, construction on West First Street was done in time to lift its fences before students returned.
Campus accessibility was a university project this summer dedicated to making travel between buildings easier for everyone.
Accessibility around campus is a continuous effort to ensure safe travel for students, faculty and visitors across campus, said Sandy Parsons-Ellis, director of the Accessibility Resource Center.
“Our campus is really pro-active in making things right in terms of accessibility,” she said.
All construction on campus is carried out with accessibility in mind, but walkways behind Kendall and Trinity halls were specifically targeted to repair uneven terrain, she said.
Other changes around the university included the painting of Selvester’s Cafe-by-the-Creek and re-roofing the Performing Arts Center.
<hr />
<strong>Griffin Rogers can be reached at</strong>
<em>[email protected]</em>
