Tag: road closures

By Jackie Todd, Office of Media Relations

Construction continues with projects on much of Clemson’s main campus with temporary closures and parking spot relocations. But officials say with short-term pain, there is a lot of gain.

“I realize that major construction projects create temporary inconveniences, but the long-term results will be worth it,” said President Jim Clements during Tuesday’s Convocation address.

The construction, part of the university’s capital building campaign, is the largest in Clemson’s history and addresses facility needs as well as the needs of a growing student population.

Officials report that over the next five years, the projects will result in about one and half million square feet of additional or renovated space.

One facility construction project is now complete. Contractor M.B. Kahn this past week completed its work on Freeman Hall, which adds 24,000 square feet of office and classroom space to the building.

University Housing and Dining reports that the Core Campus project will begin to take shape during the fall semester. Associate Director of Projects James Bonney said that the building’s steel skeleton should be complete mid semester and workers will begin to install the façade on the buildings.

The majority of the Douthit Hills construction work scheduled for the fall semester will occur on the central and east sides of the site. Bonney said there may be some traffic delays along S.C. Highway 93 near Newman and Cherry Roads as a new road is built, which will connect the north neighborhood to the Newman Road and Hwy. 93 intersection. Once completed, Daniel Drive will be closed for construction. Bonney said this will likely take place at the end of this year or beginning of 2016. Additionally, Daniel Drive and Martin will be closed for repairs Aug. 25 and 26.

Although most construction activities on these large-scale projects will be contained inside the project’s site fence, duct banks will be dug along the side of some campus roads to access underground utilities.

Some other smaller-scale projects include:

• Hardin Hall/Brackett Hall ADA sidewalk: A five-foot walk/ramp will be open on the Brackett side; however, the remainder of the area will be blocked off and under construction until mid-October.
• Cooper Plaza level brick paver project: There will be no access to the plaza level until end of August.
• Hendrix Center outdoor patio: The sidewalk from McMillan Road to the Hendrix Center, across the street from Redfern Health Center will be blocked through mid-October. However, the sidewalk that borders McMillan Road will be open.
• Electrical duct bank: This affects Calhoun Drive from Brackett Hall to Riggs Hall. Traffic will temporarily be restricted to one lane only and parking will be available on one side of the street.

Your resources

Visit the Building Futures website for information on Clemson’s capital campaign projects.

The Facilities department lists outages, road closures and other disruption events on the university calendar.

Parking and Transportation Services also offers information about parking closures, road closures and transit issues.

By Jackie Todd, Office of Media Relations

Faculty, staff, students and visitors who come to Clemson this summer will see the future being built right before their eyes.

Meanwhile, progress doesn’t come without a little inconvenience. To accommodate the work being done and for the safety of those on campus, Clemson will temporarily close some roads, divert traffic and relocate some parking spots. (Note: Deep breaths, it will all be ok, really.)

Take a look at some of the upgrades that will improve Clemson’s main campus:

Northwest campus

• A chiller plant will be constructed along Highway 93, which will add plant capacity for planned future growth on the west sector of campus and will mitigate risks associated with outages due to an aging central utility infrastructure. The new energy plant will also provide supplemental capacity for central campus growth estimated at more than 450,000 square feet including essential facilities such as the Core Campus housing development, the Watt Family Innovation Center, the Freeman Hall addition as well as new athletic facilities.
• Kingsmore Stadium renovations continue and are almost complete.
• WestZone and Stadium Suites upgrades will continue throughout the summer.
• To support renovations to Littlejohn Coliseum, the Avenue of Champions (from Perimeter Rd. to Centennial Blvd.) will shut down until August 19.

Northeast campus

• Core Campus construction continues. Read more about Core Campus.
• Workers will improve Riggs Field with the installation of a new vertical drainage system along with new turf.
• Douthit Hills construction will ramp up this week. Read more about Douthit Hills.
• Parkway Drive will close until June 1 as workers repave the street. Faculty and staff will be able to park in 45 additional spaces, which are now available on Daniel Drive (behind Clemson House) and 60 temporary employee parking spaces at Calhoun Courts (off of S.C. Highway 93 across from the President’s House).
• Plans for a satellite parking lot are underway. The lot will be built near the intersection of S.C. Highway 93 and Highway 76. The lot will be accessible through Highway 76 and is expected to offer 200 additional employee spaces.

Southeast campus

• Work on the Watt Family Innovation Center and Freeman Hall expansion  projects are ongoing.
• The brick plaza under the Library Bridge will be closed so that workers can replace the brick pavers.
• Lightsey Bridge Apartments will undergo upgrades and renovations.
• A new roof will be installed at the Brooks Center and the Fluor Daniel building.
• The picnic tables in the front of the Hendrix Student Center will be removed to allow better access to the building. Workers will build an outdoor plaza on the Southwest Corner of Hendrix. The new area will include 60 tables and chairs.

Work continues throughout campus on various repairs on the aging electrical infrastructure. To support these changes, the main campus will have brief, localized power outages and some traffic detours as workers dig “duct banks” (essentially a big hole in the street) to install and replace underground utilities and wiring.

This work precedes a five-year $75M electrical distribution system upgrade project that will begin next year.

“We want to construct a state-of-the-art electrical system that can auto switch power to minimize the impact of localized outages ” said Clemson’s Chief Facilities Officer Bob Wells. “It’s short-term pain for a lot of gain.”

Resources

Click here to access a PowerPoint that gives information on summer projects at Clemson’s main campus.

The facilities department maintains a calendar that lists road closures, outages and other construction disruptions. Access that calendar here or visit the facilities department Web page.

For up-to-date information about parking or transportation changes, visit the Parking and Transportation Services Web page and follow @Clemson_parking on Twitter.

Visit the Building Futures Web page for information on the university’s capital projects.