Blocked roads and chain-link fences decorate most of campus, as Cal Poly’s construction projects kick into high gear for the summer.
The drop in the number of people on campus for summer quarter makes it easier for construction zones to be expanded in association with ongoing construction projects such as Area 52, said Joel Neel, associate director of facilities planning and capital projects at Cal Poly. These include projects such as Area 52 and the remodeling of the Recreation Center.
During the summer months, construction crews turn their efforts toward roadwork and other projects that would be inconvenient to the large masses of students returning to Cal Poly in the fall, Neel said.
“If we have to dig a trench down the middle of the road, we like to do that during the summer,” Neel said.
University Drive, for example, was closed for two and a half weeks, and finally reopened on June 28. With the road reopened, North Perimeter Road is next. It will be closed for the next month, Neel said.
The summer construction progress is evident not just in road closures but also in new structures on campus. The biggest is a 1.5 million gallon thermal water tank across from the Recreation Center, which will help supply water to the whole campus, Neel said.
The Recreation Center is also nearing its final stages of expansion, after having closing down completely in early June. It is set to reopen in January 2012.
The final steps of renovating the gym, wrestling room and pool deck are now being undertaken, said Perry Judd, project manager for facilities planning and capital projects.
“Pretty much everything that we had kept open had to get closed so that we could renovate,” Judd said.
A section of South Perimeter Road was also fenced off from pedestrian traffic. That area will be turned into an extension of the University Union (UU) pedestrian walkway that leads from the UU to the Kinesiology Building, adjacent to the Recreation Center, Judd said.
There are also plans for a cul-de-sac for vehicle traffic at the end of the pedestrian pathway, which will be completed by the start of Fall Quarter 2011.
Though there are still students on campus during the summer months, most are fine with the expanded construction.
Roads are closed and walkways blocked off, but alternative routes keep the construction from being an inconvenience, industrial engineering junior Eric Goldsmith said.
“They’ve done a decent job of making detours and keeping what they can open,” Goldsmith said.
The only aspect of construction that bothers Goldsmith is the closure of the Recreation Center’s facilities.
“Not being able to go to the gym has been difficult because it’s one of the few within walking distance, and it’s essentially free,” Goldsmith said.
Goldsmith is not the only student who wishes the Recreation Center was still open. Graphic design senior Kenny Sing said his roommates also miss having the Recreation Center’s facilities available.
“Talking to my roommates who would have loved to work out at the Recreation Center this summer, they’re kind of disappointed about that,” Sing said.
However, Sing said, none of the construction on campus really bothers him. He said he accepts that some portions of the campus will always be under construction, which is just how Cal Poly keeps its facilities modern.
Sing said he’s enjoyed the construction projects that were completed before he came to Cal Poly, just as future students will appreciate the results of this summer’s construction.
“People complain about the current construction, but the next generation appreciates it,” Sing said.