Providence Drive Single-lane Closure 12/12 to 12/13

From Friday, December 12 to Saturday, December 13 the right-hand lane of west-bound Providence Drive will be closed. The sidewalk will also be closed. Pedestrians should utilize the sidewalk on the south side of the Providence Drive during this time.

This single-lane closure is related to the construction of the Health Campus Pedestrian Bridge, and will allow Neeser Construction to complete necessary work prior to the December 20 to January 4 full road closure of Providence Drive. 

Providence Drive Closure, December 20 to January 4

From December 20th to January 4th Providence Drive will experience a full closure between the Seawolf Dr./Piper St. and Spirit intersections (see map below). 

Piper Street is the detour route for through traffic. Spirit Way/Seawolf Drive will also be available for local traffic.

This closure is so Neeser can install the bridge structure for the Health Campus Pedestrian Bridge. The bridge is currently being assembled in sections in the South Lot, next to the Engineering & Industry Building construction site.

Following this full closure the building envelope for the bridge will be built out through spring. This activity will result in intermittent single-lane closures.

UPDATED: Health Campus Bridge Construction, Impacts to South Lot Parking

Starting November 8th and running through the Winter Break two additional rows of parking in South Lot will be out of service. This closure is to enable Neeser Construction to assemble the steel structure of the Health Campus Pedestrian Bridge. Approximately 120 parking spaces will be out of service due to this work. These spaces will return in January.

Due to the reduced parking availability, the remaining spaces in South Lot will be short-term parking only. Everyone is encouraged to park in other lots during this time.

From December 20 to January 4 there will be a full closure of Providence Drive. Traffic through the area will be routed along Piper and Spirit/Seawolf. More information to follow on this as we approach the closure.

Repairs to East Campus Storm Drains, Partial closure of Alumni Loop

The final storm drain re-lining of the season will occur on Saturday, October 11th to Sunday, October 12th. The west-bound lane of Alumni will be closed between UAA Drive and the Library NE Lot. Due to this closure, only east-bound traffic flow will be allowed through this area.

East Campus Central Lot and the Central Garage will only be accessible via UAA Drive. Vehicles must turn right on Alumni to exit these areas. Please see the map for the designated entrance and exist for these lots. 

Access to EBL will be as needed and facilitated by the crew on site. 

Repairs to East Campus Storm Drains, Lane Restrictions on Alumni Loop

Additional re-lining of the east campus storm drain lines will occur the evening of Friday, September 26th through Sunday, September 28th. This will result in lane restrictions on Alumni Loop near East Campus Central Lot. Flaggers will be present to assist with the flow of traffic through the area. East Campus Central Lot and the Central Garage will be accessible during this time.

This work is to continue activities conducted in early August.

Temporary Mallard Lane Realignment

Initially we announced that Mallard Lane would be closed for approximately 1 year, and reopened when it was realigned. Since this notice we have sought to do a temporary road within the alignment corridor to maintain traffic flow on the north side of campus. The Municipality just approved the permit to do this temporary road. 

Starting at 6:00 pm Wednesday, September 24th Neeser Construction will begin this work. To make the temporary road functional some work has to be completed within UAA Drive. These activities will be conducted in the evenings, between 6:00 pm and 9:30 pm. Flaggers will be on site to regulate traffic through the area. It is expected that work within and along UAA Drive will be complete by October 15th. 

Mallard Lane is expected to reopen on October 18th, pending any delays from weather or other sources. 

This is a temporary road. It will be closed again as we approach Summer so that the permanent road can be constructed. 

Additional Single-lane Closures of Providence Drive, 9/25 and 9/27

Neeser Construction will be pouring concrete for the Health Campus Pedestrian Bridge foundations on Thursday, September 25th and Saturday, September 27th. This activity will result in a single-lane closure for the right-hand lane of west-bound traffic.

Spine Elevator Out of Service for ~1 week

The elevator located where the spine meets the Engineering building will be offline for approximately 1 week. Alternative elevators can be found at the north end of the Engineering Building and in the Natural Sciences Building.

Update on Providence Dr. Lane Closures

As an update to our previous notice on intermittent lane closures, we are expecting the following closures:

• Thursday, September 11: the left-hand, west-bound lane will be closed for the day
• Starting Monday, September 15 for 4-5 days: the left-hand lane in both the west-bound and east-bound directions will be closed. 

Tree Clearing between South Lot and Providence Drive, 9/6

On Saturday, September 6th, Neeser Construction will be clearing trees between South Lot and Providence Drive. The work will be conducted from South Lot, so please expect a temporary loss of parking, as well as impacts to the sidewalk along Providence Dr., during this time. This activity is related to the construction of the Health Campus Pedestrian Bridge. The approximate area of the tree clearing is displayed below.

Intermittent Single Lane Closures on Providence Drive for approx. 2 weeks

Starting Monday, September 8th for approximately 2 weeks please expect intermittent single lane closures on Providence Drive between Seawolf Drive and Spirit Way. Neeser Construction will be conducting work in the median in preparation for the Health Campus Pedestrian Bridge. On days the lane closures occur the left-hand lanes of both the west-bound and east-bound traffic will be affected.

Please be aware of personnel and equipment operating in and around the impacted area.

Evacuation Drills, September 8th to 12th

UAA Emergency Management will conduct annual evacuation drills of its academic and office buildings throughout the week of September 8-12. As in any real-life activation of alarms, occupants must leave quickly and should go to the building’s Emergency Assembly Area (EAA). People in wheelchairs or using crutches should evacuate to the stairwell landing of the floor they’re using at the time of the alarm. For the drills, volunteers in safety vests will be on hand to help direct occupants to the EAAs.  Emergency Management & Safety staff will inspect the operation of horns, bells and strobe lights in all classrooms, labs and work areas for proper operation. Once the buildings are inspected and occupants have evacuated, people in the EAA will be notified that they can return.

For more information, contact Lt. Ron Swartz, Emergency Manager, University Police Department, at (907) 786-1149.

Northern Lights and UAA Dr. Intersection Update

There have been several inquiries regarding the Department of Transportation's work at Northern Lights and UAA Dr.
We received the following update from the project engineer:

In terms of work in the road way: work is done. Some detail work remains.
The main item left is installing the new signal system. There is no ETA, but when work on this does occur it will be conducted either during a weekend closure or 2 nightly closures.

Paving Around Relocatables near East Campus Central Lot week of August 25th

Before the end of the week crews will be paving the pathways around the recently moved relocatable buildings. This work will occur after 7:00 pm, minimizing the traffic impact. Most of the activity will be within the current site boundaries; however, trucks will be frequently coming and going from the area.

Minor Traffic Impacts as Materials are Delivered for EIB-HSB Spine

Beginning Monday, August 25th work on the foundations for the Health Campus Pedestrian Bridge will begin. At this time we do not anticipate changes to the existing construction footprints around the Engineering & Industry Building or the Health Sciences Building. We also do not anticipate any lane closures for the first week of the semester.

Materials delivery to the HSB-side of Providence Drive will require trucks to turn into the construction area from the roadway. This will result in minimal traffic impacts as trucks enter and leave the site. Please be aware of this when traveling east-bound on Providence Drive.

UPDATE: ML&P Maintenance on Light Poles Along Trail North of WFSC/SU

UPDATE: due to emergency line work elsewhere, ML&P was not able to complete this work. We will update when it has been rescheduled.

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On Saturday, August 16th ML&P will be conducting maintenance on light poles on the trail north of the Wells Fargo Sports Complex and Student Union. A portion of this trail is currently closed due to construction activities, so this activity will impact the western portion that is currently open. This work is expected to last one day.

Relocatable Buildings Being Moved Monday, August 18th and 19th

On Monday, August 18th, and Tuesday, August 19th, Neeser Construction will be moving the 2 relocatable buildings currently located north of Engineering to the recently cleared land next to the East Campus Central Lot. This move requires crossing UAA Drive and will occur in the mornings.

While we anticipate the time needed to move the structures between sites will be short, this activity will temporarily impact UAA Drive, the western section of Alumni Drive, and East Campus Central Lot.

Information on East Campus Central Lot Activities

We have received several questions regarding the different activities in and around East Campus Central Lot. There are currently 2 separate activities occurring in this area:

First: on the west side (near the NSB) we are moving relocatable buildings that have been located north of the Engineering Building to the wooded area next to the parking lot. At this point the site is mostly cleared and Neeser's crews are preparing the site for the structures. The row of parking next to this area has also been fenced off for staging for this activity and the construction of the new 485-space parking garage (located north of the Engineering building). These spaces will be unavailable for parking for approximately 1 year.

Second:  on the east side of the parking lot we are conducting repairs on a critical system failure. Earlier this summer we replaced heating equipment in Energy Module 2 (EM2; the small utility building north of the SSB) to improve heat delivery to Engineering. Unfortunately, when we recharged the heating lines this improvement turned into an example of what occurs with aging infrastructure: the lines that run under the parking lot failed. After lengthy investigation the extent of the break was determined.

We are currently waiting for new insulated pipe to be fabricated and delivered. These materials are expected to arrive early next week (week of August 18th). Our contractor hopes to have the repairs completed and the trench refilled before the start of the semester; however, this work is weather dependent and may very well extend into the fall semester. Students, faculty, and staff in and around the SSB should be prepared for this eventuality. These lines supply heat and cooling to NSB and Engineering, so we must proceed cautiously to ensure the buildings have heat by the time winter arrives.

Please be aware of personnel and equipment operating in and around both of these areas.

South Lot and Spirit Way Paving, August 14 and 15

Neeser Construction will be paving a portion Spirit Way and South Lot at the corner of the job site on Thursday, August 14th and Friday, August 15th. During this time Spirit Way will be restricted to one lane and several parking spaces will be temporarily unavailable.

Please be aware of construction crews and heavy equipment in the area.

Water Outage for HSB the evening August 8th to morning of August 11th

The Health Sciences Building will experience a water outage starting the evening of Friday, August 8th to the morning of Monday, August 11th. This outage is to relocate where the water line connects to the building and is part of the Health Campus Pedestrian Bridge construction. The work will be conducted by Neeser Construction.

For questions please contact John Hanson at 786-4913.

Update: Alumni Loop Closure and Cooling Shutdown is now August 7th

Our contractor will begin work on the storm drains August 7^th (tomorrow). With the revised timeline they expect the closure of Alumni Loop at UAA Drive to last only one day. East Campus Central Lot and Central Garage will remain accessible from the east. 

Cooling for Natural Sciences, Library, Arts, and Admin will be offline during this time. 

Parking Garage Construction and Extended Closure of Mallard Lane

On August 8th Neeser Construction will begin their second phase of mobilization for construction of the new 485-space parking garage. This project will have several significant impacts to the traffic flow around campus.

Mallard Lane will be closed for approximately 1 year. The existing alignment of Mallard Lane is not within the Municipality's road easement allocated for the roadway. This road will be realigned to the allocated easement creating a safer intersection at Mallard and UAA Dr. The current alignment of Mallard Lane also encroaches on the space needed for the garage.

The multi-use trail north of the Wells Fargo Sports Complex/Student Union will be closed at the bridge over Chester Creek. This closure will also last for approximately 1 year. Pedestrians traveling across campus must either utilize the spine or detour to the sidewalk along Providence Dr. (see map below).

The service lot behind the current Engineering building will be restricted access only (maintenance and coordinated deliveries).

Please be aware of construction personnel and heavy equipment in and around the site.

The new garage and the realigned Mallard Lane are expected to be open for use for the fall semester 2015. 

Garage Site Boundaries

Trail Detour Route

Contractor Mobilization in East Campus Central Lot and Tree Clearing

Starting the week of August 3rd approximately 35 parking spaces in East Campus Central Lot (adjacent to SSB and NSB) will be used for contractor staging. This is directly related to the construction of the 485-space garage that is part of the Engineering project. This section of East Campus Central will be unavailable for parking for the duration of the garage construction (approximately 1 year).

The new garage will be located to the north of the old engineering building. To accommodate this construction, two portable classrooms will be relocated to the area north of Natural Sciences. Neeser Construction's crews will be clearing a portion of the trees shortly after establishing their staging area.

Please be aware of construction workers and heavy equipment in and around the site.

UPDATE: Alumni Loop Closure and Cooling Shutdown rescheduled to 8/11 to 8/16

The building cooling shutdown to Engineering, Natural Sciences, Library, Arts, and Admin and partial closure of Alumni Loop has been rescheduled to Monday evening (8/11) thru Saturday (8/16).

This delay is due to equipment shipping issues.

All dates are subject to change as this work is weather dependent. Please check back frequently for updates.

Health Campus Pedestrian Bridge Construction, Part 1

On Friday, August 1 Neeser Construction will be mobilizing near the Health Sciences Building for construction of the Health Campus Pedestrian Bridge. This is a new spine connection between the Engineering & Industry Building (under construction) and HSB. The area impacted is denoted by the blue line in the image below.

Due to this activity, the north entrance to HSB will be closed through the duration of the project. Additionally, the sidewalk along Providence Drive next to HSB will be closed. Pedestrians should use the sidewalk on the north side of Providence Dr.

At this phase of the project there are no intended impacts to parking. As we approach Winter Break there will be an additional, temporary loss of parking in South Lot (adjacent to Wells Fargo Sport Complex, Student Union, and EIB construction site). This will be to assemble the spine structure, which will be erected over Providence Dr. during the Winter Break. More details on this to follow.

Please be aware of construction personnel and heavy equipment in and around the job site. Over the next several weeks there will be intermittent single-lane closures, mostly in the east-bound lane.

Alumni Loop Closure and Cooling Shutdown 8/4 to 8/7

Building cooling to Engineering, Natural Sciences, Library, Arts, and Admin will be shutdown Monday evening (8/4) thru Thursday (8/7). This is to conduct repair work on existing storm drain lines at Alumni and UAA Drive. Cooling shutdown is necessary because cooling well discharge is dumped into the storm drain system for disposal.

As noted in the image below, Alumni Loop will experience a partial closure Tuesday (8/5) thru Thursday (8/7). This is necessary to access the repair locations for the storm drain. Central Lot and Garage will remain accessible during this period.

All dates are subject to change as this work is weather dependent. Facilities will keep you informed of any changes.

Spine closure between SSB and NSB on July 29

The Spine between the Social Sciences Building and Natural Sciences Building will be closed for access on Tuesday, July 29 from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm. This closure is for for the filming of a GCI commercial advertising upcoming UAA events.

The upper levels of the Central Garage can be accessed from ground-level via the stairwells on the east and west side of the building. Handicap access to the upper levels will be allowed as necessary.

Northern Lights and UAA Dr. Intersection Closure, July 25-28

Northern Lights Boulevard will be closed between Lake Otis Parkway and Bragaw Street from 8 a.m. Friday, July 25, until Monday, July 28. Please follow construction signs for detour routes.

• Be alert to lane restrictions on Northern Lights Boulevard at UAA Drive on Sundays, from 7 a.m.-5 p.m.
• Please watch for construction workers on the shoulder and use caution when traveling through the construction area.

The Alaska Department of Transportation is working to reconstruct the intersection of Northern Lights Boulevard and UAA Drive. Work includes widening UAA drive to add an additional turn lane, constructing an additional receive lane, relocating the Goose Park access road and installing new traffic signal system, sidewalk, bus stop illumination, signage and marking. This project is scheduled to be complete by the end of October 2014.

For more information, call DOT at (907) 770-2612 or visit AlaskaNavigator.org.

Outage: Cooling Wells on East Campus

The cooling wells for all east campus facilities have been disabled. This outage is to address a break in the storm drain that is currently flooding repair work on the heating line to Engineering. The discharge from the cooling wells travels through the storm drain toward Engineering.

Crews are working diligently on the repairs and cooling will be restored as soon as possible.

Limited Access to East Campus Central Lot and Central Garage

Due to immediate maintenance needs the East Campus Central Lot (next to NSB and SSB) and Central Garage will have limited access for approximately the next two weeks. Please utilize the Library parking lot during this time. 

More information will be provided as it is available. 

Smoky Conditions May Impact Building Operations Memorial Day Weekend

Due to fires thorough out the State, the weather service has forecast the Anchorage bowl to be smoky this weekend. Facilities has staff on standby to respond to a heavy smoke event which may cause us to shut down air handling equipment. We intend to keep building air handling equipment running until the smoke triggers fire detection systems. If this occurs we will be shutting down air handling systems on buildings.  If your are working this weekend please be aware fire alarms may sound. 

When you return on Tuesday it is highly probable that the building will be smoky, stuffy, and warm. This will dissipate as the building occupancy increases and systems begin operating at normal capacity. 

If you are on campus this weekend and experience a campus building emergency please call UPD and they will contact the Facilities on call staff.  

ESH Water Outage 5/22 to 5/23

Eugene Short Hall will experience a water outage starting the morning of Thursday, May 22nd and is expected to last into Friday afternoon. This outage is necessary for our plumbers to fix a leak in the main water supply line. Restroom facilities in adjacent buildings will be available.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Tom Sternberg:
thsternberg@uaa.alaska.edu
786-6947

Piper Street Closure

As you may have noticed, Piper Street has been closed at the Providence Drive intersection. This was an unexpected closure for us. The firm developing the southwest corner informed us that they expect the road to be open in time for the Summer semester start Monday morning. The closure is to tie the development into the utilities.

Water Outages for Aviation Technology Complex

The Aviation Technology Complex will be experiencing two water outages:

• The first will occur during the early morning of Thursday, May 15th. This will be a test shutdown and is expected to be brief. 
• The second will occur on Sunday, May 18th and is expected to be longer in duration. This shutdown is in conjunction with a Municipal road project in the area. 

Maintenance personnel will be monitoring the shutdowns. We do not expect these shutdowns to impact University operations at the Aviation Technology Complex. 

If you have any questions please contact Tom Sternberg:

thsternberg@uaa.alaska.edu

786-6947

Spirit Way Closed to Through Traffic for Summer

Starting May 5th the section of Spirit Way between the Bookstore and the construction site for the Engineering & Industry Building will be closed for the summer. The GSS and SU loading areas will be accessible from Providence Drive via the eastern section of Spirit.

There will be a small expansion of the site in mid-July to complete work on the sewage line (delineate by the dashed red line).

During construction of the Health Campus Pedestrian Bridge additional parking spaces will be temporarily removed from service this Fall. Additional information for this will be announced closer to the start of Fall semester.

Fire System Inspections

It is time again for the annual fire system inspections. Two companies will be involved: Taylor Fire Protection, who will be inspecting the sprinklers (and suppression), and Engineered Fire Systems, who will be inspecting the detection systems.  They will be working independently on separate schedules (except for CPISB).

Both companies will be working from early May through June.

The inspection technicians will be accessing every area of the building briefly for assessment. Testing of the audible devices will be done during unoccupied hours; however, there is a chance the audible devices may be unintentionally sounded. If you have any questions, please contact Tom Sternberg.

Summer Construction Activities

As Alaskans know, with summer comes construction. UAA will have several projects occurring across campus.
The following map summarizes the major activities:

Highlights include:

• Completion of the Alaska Airlines Center
• Includes the opening of Health Dr. and closing off Sharon Gagnon at Elmore. 
• Foundation work for the Health Campus Pedestrian Bridge
• Expect single lane closures along Providence Dr. between Seawolf and Spirit.
• The section of Spirit Way between the Bookstore and the construction site for the Engineering & Industry Building will be closed for summer. 
• The GSS loading dock will be accessible via the eastern section of Spirit from Providence. 

DOT: UAA Dr. & Northern Lights Blvd. Intersection Improvements

The Alaska Department of Transportation (DOT) is starting up a project to improve the traffic flow for the UAA Dr. & Northern Lights Blvd. intersection. This project will add an additional southbound turning lane to  westbound Northern Lights and an additional southbound lane on UAA Dr. to Mallard Ln.

The rough project timeline is:

• Toward the end of the week of April 7th: clearing along the west side of UAA Dr. 
• Toward the end of April: construction in the roadway begins
• Toward the end of May: lane closures will begin
• October: project completion

Any hindrances to traffic flow will be restricted to evenings and weekends. 

This is a DOT project funded by the federal Highway Safety Improvement Program, and not a UAA project. We will do our best to keep the campus community informed as this project progresses.

Click here for DOT's one-page handout on the project.

Open Houses for Health Campus Pedestrian Bridge

UAA currently has a project for a new pedestrian bridge between the Health Sciences Building and the Engineering & Industry Building (under construction). Facilities Planning & Construction and their consultant, Livingston Slone, Inc., will hold two open houses on Tuesday, March 18th, to share information on the project and answer any questions people have.

The two times and locations are:

• 2:00-4:30 pm in the Student Union
• 5:30-7:30 pm in Library 307

A two-page information sheet is available here: Health Campus Pedestrian Bridge.

West Campus Water Outage

On Friday, March 14 from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm we will have a water outage on the west campus. This is to complete the installation of a new meter and shut off for the Beatrice McDonald Hall renewal.

The outage will affect the following buildings:

• Eugene Short Hall
• Professional Studies Building
• Sally Monserud Hall
• Lucy Cuddy Hall
• Auto/Diesel Technology
• Gordon Hartlieb Hall

Facilities Maintenance and AWWU will be coordinating the outage. Facilities plumbers will check the buildings after water is restored. 

If you have any questions please contact Tom Sternberg:

thsternberg@uaa.alaska.edu

786-6947

Welcome to the Facilities Blog

With this blog we intend to provide easy access to information about maintenance and construction activities that are occurring around campus. Blog posts will primarily be focused on notices, outages, and disruptions; however, we will also include notable information about activities of interest to the campus community.

We encourage you check back frequently! Please bookmark, subscribe to our RSS feed, or follow us by email (box on the right).

If you have any questions please email us at facilities@uaa.alaska.edu.

This is an evolution from a prior blog on new construction activities. For an archive of previous posts, please go to: uaaconstruction.blogspot.com.