Students can expect to improvise new routes to class due to a recent cascade of construction on buildings, sidewalks and streets around campus.
McCool Hall renovations began Jan. 3, causing the displacement of the parking behind the building and closing the sidewalk connecting the Drill Field and Perry Cafeteria.
Freshman French major David Chesney said he found the sidewalk closure to be a small inconvenience but was not worried about it.
“I understand that construction is necessary,” Chesney said. “I just think it should be completed as quickly as possible to keep the inconvenience to a minimum.
McCool Hall is receiving a 52,000-square-foot addition that is slated to be completed by May 2007. However, the resulting closed sidewalk should be open by the end of January.
Offices normally on the third floor of McCool have been moved to the former Alpha Gamma Delta sorority house. Matthew Alford, a grad student who teaches economics, said he and other graduate assistants have been lumped together into a former ballroom.
“Mostly it has caused minor inconveniences,” Alford said. “We had to pack up and move all of our stuff, and the copy machine wasn’t ready for the first day of classes.”
Alford-who is also busy work ing on his dissertation-said the new office area is crowded and loud, so he finds it hard to be productive in there.
“We don’t have direct phone lines, and we are in the process of getting Internet now,” he said. “I probably won’t be doing a lot of work in there.”
The auditorium refurbishment in Lee Hall should be completed by July. This construction closed off the section of Lee Boulevard between Perry Street and Hardy Road, which is being transformed into gated parking.
A new agricultural and biological engineering building is scheduled to begin construction in March, replacing the tin gym beside McCarthy Gym. This construction will close parking in the lot behind the gym for West Zone commuters.
East Zone commuters also lost parking over Christmas break as the McComas parking lot began the paving process. The lot is slated for completion by May.
Despite the parking losses due to construction, Paul Welch, director of support services, said parking capacity is increasing.
Another obstacle drivers must face is the rerouting of Creelman Street in concordance with the Master Plan, a project adopted two years ago in hopes of molding MSU’s campus a pedestrian campus. According to the MSU Web site, Creelman Street will close April 17.
The former site of Creelman Street is being replaced with the Junction, a large field to be used for tailgating. The Junction will also serve as a pathway to the Cullis Wade Depot, which is currently under construction and should open in August.
A section of B.S. Hood will be open only to construction traffic as of April 17, and Stone Boulevard will close Feb. 6, the MSU Web site said.
Executive director of facilities Jim Jones wants everyone on campus to realize that construction is a necessary element of progress.
“Construction is disruptive by nature,” Jones said. “You can’t repave a road without disrupting traffic. We don’t have strong desires to disrupt the campus; we work to improve the campus facilities so that everyone that works and goes to school here can be proud.”
“The next two years will have a tremendous amount of construction, and we need everyone to work with us as best they can,” he said.