WIU tunnels underground
Jacquie Berger
Issue date: 1/25/02 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
WIU is currently undergoing major construction for the replacement of utility tunnels throughout the entire campus by installing new shallow and walk-through tunnels underground.
The utility tunnel project, which took two years to plan and has been in effect since September of 2000, was designed to replace the direct buried piping originally installed throughout campus and to fix prior problems within the original system, such as the aging of the piping, which leads to frequent system failure. Phase I of the project already exists with a walk-through tunnel extending from Murray Street to Western Hall. Other tunnels being installed in phases II and III are shallow tunnels, which cannot be walked through.
According to Pat Dowdall, coordinator of the project, the whole project consists of the installation of 1,260 feet of seven-foot-wide walk-through tunnel and 5,065 feet of shallow tunnel for the campus's steam and condensate piping. The project also entails the installation of dual 16-inch high-pressure steam mains and an eight-inch condensate main in the new walk-through tunnel and the existing phase I tunnel.
Shallow tunnel construction has been completed at Browne Hall, Sallee Hall and Currens Hall. Major runs still in progress are from Stipes Hall to the Greenhouse, Memorial Hall to Simpkins Hall, Seal Hall to Mowbray Hall and the Student Recreation Center to the middle of Western Hall, which will be re-started next month and will be completed in February.
Many routes and walkways for students and faculty have been temporarily re-routed all over campus due to the construction.
"It has caused quite a bit of inconvenience for students with re-routing, but students have handled the setbacks pretty well," Dowdall said.
"lt's not too bad, but it's a bit of an inconvenience, especially in the cold weather, having to walk all the way around a building to get to my car when I can see it straight ahead of me," Carla Trezzo, senior law enforcement and justice administration and psychology major, said.
However, Dowdall said that overall, there have been very few complaints about the construction.
"Construction is pretty smooth going so far despite the magnitude of the project," Dowdall said.
The entire project is scheduled to be completed in October of this year at an estimated total cost of over $10 million.
The utility tunnel project, which took two years to plan and has been in effect since September of 2000, was designed to replace the direct buried piping originally installed throughout campus and to fix prior problems within the original system, such as the aging of the piping, which leads to frequent system failure. Phase I of the project already exists with a walk-through tunnel extending from Murray Street to Western Hall. Other tunnels being installed in phases II and III are shallow tunnels, which cannot be walked through.
According to Pat Dowdall, coordinator of the project, the whole project consists of the installation of 1,260 feet of seven-foot-wide walk-through tunnel and 5,065 feet of shallow tunnel for the campus's steam and condensate piping. The project also entails the installation of dual 16-inch high-pressure steam mains and an eight-inch condensate main in the new walk-through tunnel and the existing phase I tunnel.
Shallow tunnel construction has been completed at Browne Hall, Sallee Hall and Currens Hall. Major runs still in progress are from Stipes Hall to the Greenhouse, Memorial Hall to Simpkins Hall, Seal Hall to Mowbray Hall and the Student Recreation Center to the middle of Western Hall, which will be re-started next month and will be completed in February.
Many routes and walkways for students and faculty have been temporarily re-routed all over campus due to the construction.
"It has caused quite a bit of inconvenience for students with re-routing, but students have handled the setbacks pretty well," Dowdall said.
"lt's not too bad, but it's a bit of an inconvenience, especially in the cold weather, having to walk all the way around a building to get to my car when I can see it straight ahead of me," Carla Trezzo, senior law enforcement and justice administration and psychology major, said.
However, Dowdall said that overall, there have been very few complaints about the construction.
"Construction is pretty smooth going so far despite the magnitude of the project," Dowdall said.
The entire project is scheduled to be completed in October of this year at an estimated total cost of over $10 million.