New signs along Lake Dr. encourage owners to leash pets and dispose of waste.
Have you noticed the new signage on Lake Drive? Clemson University Facilities has installed new signage to help ensure pedestrian safety and to remind everyone to clean up after their pets.
A Resource for Work and Play
The Clemson University Wastewater Treatment Plant has always enjoyed sharing Lake Drive with the community as a scenic walking space. To keep both humans and animals safe, University Facilities asks all visitors to keep their pets on leashes while walking along the asphalt pathway. Lake Drive is the only vehicular entrance to the Wastewater Treatment Plant and has regular vehicular traffic. In addition to being a well-used service road, emergency responders rely on Lake Drive to access the plant. Your help in keeping pets leashed and ideally out of the roadway as vehicles travel to and from the plant is much appreciated.
Lake Hartwell
When left unbagged, untreated pet waste containing harmful bacteria enters stormwater runoff. This material impacts wildlife living in or near Hartwell Lake. Bacterial pollution can also harm water quality for local recreation and drinking. The best way to counter bacterial pollution is to bag all pet waste. If left behind, simply being contained prevents the spread of bacteria via runoff. Even so, Clemson University Facilities has installed signs along Lake Drive to remind everyone to bag their pet’s waste and dispose of it in the nearest trash receptacle. This keeps the path not just environmentally friendly but a pleasant for everyone to use. We’re grateful for everyone’s contribution in this—it’s a community effort to ensure the lake remains healthy and the path remains open for everyone to enjoy.
Picking up after pets helps keep harmful biological pollution from entering stormwater and ultimately Lake Hartwell.
Clemson University has spent the summer preparing a plan for on-campus learning for the coming fall semester. To this end, many changes to how students, faculty and staff interact are being made on Clemson’s campus, particularly in the classroom experience. General best practices such as face coverings and social distancing will be required while indoors. A specific strategy has been developed for academic buildings to meet the university’s expectations for safe learning within the classroom.
An ad hoc team consisting of space planners, building officials, and design professionals from various Facilities departments have been assisting Clemson University Emergency Management, Occupational & Environmental Safety, Building Security Coordinators, as well as the Provost to define how spaces are utilized with the guidelines for social distancing. As part of this, each classroom space is detailed with furniture layouts and chair placements.
Classroom floor plans have been updated to reflect social distancing practices.
This effort determines the number of students a classroom can accommodate while ensuring proper distancing.
Most Clemson courses are a hybrid of face to face instruction with online components. For larger classes to remain in-person, Facilities is helping to find additional spaces on campus that will accommodate large groups while also maintaining social distancing protocol. We have also collaborated with CCIT and academic affairs and the Provost to equip almost 700 classrooms, labs, and other spaces, with furniture, microphones and cameras installed in many classrooms.
This will allow for livestreaming of lectures for online instruction. With the goal of having the majority of classes that have face to face instruction blended with online components, Clemson is working diligently to ensure that this plan meets the medical guidelines for COVID-19 social distancing.
This post previously included construction information regarding the College of Business with lane closures along Walter T. Cox Boulevard. This project has been completed two days ahead and schedule and WTC is now open.
A few construction projects happening around campus will impact traffic as students return from the winter break. In addition, newly installed gates in front of Brackett Hall will prevent vehicles from entering the core of campus via Calhoun Drive.
Perimeter Road Near the Brooks Center
Construction is currently located near the Brooks Performing Arts Center.
The campus-wide electrical distribution upgrade continues, with Perimeter Road currently impacted by construction between Cherry Road and Brooks Center Drive. Presently the northern-most lanes along Perimeter are closed, and two-way traffic is being facilitated using the southern-most lanes between Brooks Center Drive and Cherry Rd.
Cherry Road between Bryan Circle and McMillan Road
Related underground utility construction is currently underway on Cherry Road, and with its final phase expected to end on January 8th. The project impacts the usual entrance to Bryan Circle, but a temporary detour is in place in which traffic can turn from McMillan Road onto Epsilon Zeta, accessing Bryan Circle that way.
New Gates along Calhoun Drive
To improve pedestrian safety in the core of campus, boom barriers have been installed along Calhoun Drive in front of Brackett Hall. Employee spaces along this stretch have been converted to temporary loading spaces for deliveries.
For the most up to date information regarding construction and its impact to traffic on campus, please see our Road Work Google Map.
The University Fire Department will be conducting training evolutions at Johnstone Hall A-Section on December 2, 3, & 4. The training will involve fire apparatus and several fire crews who will be flowing water in and around the building. Most of the training activity will be around the Harcombe loading dock side (Alpha Beta St.) and the upper floors of A-Section itself.
Any questions or concerns should be directed to the Fire Department at CUFD-EMS@clemson.edu or 864-656-2242.
Another major summer construction project has been completed: the reconstruction of the intersection of Walter T. Cox Boulevard and Calhoun Drive is now finished, with traffic flowing along WTC across all four lanes. Calhoun Drive is also fully accessible. The intersection now features a 4-inch tall traffic speed table designed to calm traffic through this pedestrian-heavy area between Sikes Hall, Douthit Hills and the soon to be completed College of Business.
Some work remains to be done with sidewalk construction and landscaping, but no further road closures are expected to be necessary.
The third phase of this project consists of landscaping and sidewalk construction.
There are many projects underway and the University is taking advantage of summer vacation for many to accomplish as much work as possible before the fall semester.
Highway 93
The underground utilities installation along Highway 93 between Sherman Road and Centennial Blvd. is complete and the highway is now fully open to traffic. Permanent traffic lines will be painted on the roadway within the coming weeks.
The pedestrian safety table will aid in managing traffic at this heavily used crosswalk.
Calhoun Drive Intersection Reconstruction
The intersection of Calhoun Drive and Highway 93 is being modified to improve traffic flow. A raised crosswalk similar to the pedestrian safety table on Williamson Road between Memorial Stadium and the Scroll of Honor is being developed for pedestrians who will cross Highway 93 between Sikes Hall and the new College of Business. Work is on schedule with a projected full reopening of the intersection this August.
Cherry / McMillan Intersection
Phase I of the underground utilities installation has been completed at the intersection of Cherry Road and McMillan Road. Phase II is scheduled to begin on July 22 and will require another full closure of the intersection until August 1. The third and final phase of the installation in this area will be scheduled for late 2019.
The expansion of Newman Road will help enhance traffic flow as vehicles approach the intersection with McMillan Road.
McMillan Road near Redfern
Installation of underground utilities across McMillan Road between the Redfern Health Center and Edwards Hall is expected to begin the first week of July. This work should take approximately three weeks to complete.
Newman / McMillan Intersection
Newman Road is being widened to four-lanes north of McMillan Road. Work is underway to prepare for an upcoming road closure to be announced. Once started, the intersection will be closed for approx. three to four weeks, but expected to open by August 12. Aside from brief disruptions relying on flagmen to guide travelers through the construction area, Newman Road currently remains open.
Perimeter / Lot C-1
A new traffic light with dedicated turn lanes is being established at the intersection of Perimeter Road and the commuter parking Lot C-1. This area will see one-lane traffic at times, guided by flagmen to allow drivers to travel both directions in turn.
The installation of a new traffic light as well as dedicated turn lanes will help ease congestion along Perimeter Road.
A power outage that plunged over a dozen buildings on the east side of campus into darkness Saturday night was caused by a cable failure between Bryan Circle and Mauldin Hall.
The outage happened just before 11 p.m. Saturday as thousands of Clemson fans were leaving campus after the Tigers defeated the Duke Blue Devils in football.
The cable, located in an underground conduit, failed and caused a main breaker in the campus switch station to open for system protection. Multiple buildings, including Douthit Hills, Calhoun Courts, Thornhill Village and Lever, Byrnes, Mauldin, Barnett and Vickery halls were affected. Several traffic lights were darkened by the outage as well.
University electricians drove against the flow of game traffic to get to campus to fix the problem. After several hours, they were able to isolate the problem and restore power to most of the buildings. Mauldin Hall was without power until 5:40 p.m. Sunday because workers had to replace the section of cable that failed, according to Tony Putnam, campus Utility Services director.
“The major electrical project we commenced early this year and plan to complete over the next three years will greatly improve the university’s system reliability, automation, redundancy and fault detection capabilities and minimize the extent of this type of outage,” he said.
A photo of the condition of the South chimney’s concrete cap and upper elevations. As one approaches campus, Clemson University’s Central Energy Facility looms large alongside Tillman Hall and Death Valley Stadium. Its twin “smoke stacks” serve as an unmistakable landmark for visitors and their presence adjacent to increasingly contemporary structures amounts to a vintage interruption to fast-moving modernization at Clemson. Despite their bygone appearance, the chimneys of the CEF continue to play an important role in keeping students, employees and visitors comfortable within campus buildings.
The CEF’s History in Brief
The Central Energy Facility was constructed in 1948. Its original purpose was to provide steam-based heat to most of campus.
“The north stack was constructed as part of the original 1948 plant,” according to Tony Putnam, Director of Utility Services. In 1964, the Central Energy Facility (known in those days as ‘the Physical Plant’) underwent an upgrade to keep pace with campus growth. “The south stack was added as part of the 1964 plant expansion.”
Near the base of the South chimney, taken in the 1960’s.Today, the CEF serves as the key contributor to campus heating and air conditioning, serving much of the campus including various dorms, classrooms and research facilities, as well as Harcombe dining hall. Although it originally burned coal, on May 3rd of 2012 the CEF switched to natural gas in an effort to reduce operational costs. Coincidentally, natural gas has amounted to a major reduction in the university’s carbon footprint. Also, while the CEF’s primary purpose is to provide heating and cooling to the campus, it can produce electricity as needed. As it plays a critical role in the daily operation of Clemson University, it’s important to ensure that the CEF remains a safe and efficient facility.
Repair of the South Chimney
Prompted by concerns that recent construction adjacent to the Central Energy Facility could have affected their structural integrity, University Facilities commissioned Bednash Consulting, Inc. to inspect both the North and South chimneys on June 15th of this year. Their inspection report concluded that while the overall condition of the North chimney was good and required few repairs, several issues were found with the condition of the South chimney. The topmost 18′ of the chimney was recommended to be demolished and completely rebuilt. The chimney’s lightning protection system also needs replacing in order to bring it up to Underwriters’ Laboratories standards.
In order to perform the repairs, a wooden ladder is built from the base of the chimney to its summit. The ladder supports itself from the ground and the lightning arresting cable connected to the chimney stabilizes it. With the ladder in place, a platform encircling the chimney is constructed near the top to give workers a stable workspace to perform brick and mortar work. The material used to repair the chimney is hoisted from the ground using a pulley. However, the workers themselves must traverse the ladder each time they wish to reach or leave the platform. We’ve included a video that provides the worker’s perspective of what it’s like to climb the chimney, fair warning to those afraid of heights.
The “Smoke Stacks” continue to serve Clemson University as a part of providing a reliable source of heating and air to campus housing and academic areas. One day they may come down, but until that time the chimneys of the Central Energy Facility will continue to benefit from the maintenance necessary to ensure they are safe and sound.
Special thanks to Project Manager Tom Minor who provided inspection information along with footage of the repairs.
