Last Friday we had a very successful groundbreaking ceremony for our new chemistry building. Both Dean Karl Scholz and Chancellor Rebecca Blank praised our department in their remarks and lots of people put shovels into the ground. Governor Walker signed contracts with the contractors last Thursday, so everything is in place for our long-awaited demolition and construction project to begin.
There are major traffic flow changes in the building and these changes may impact your egress during the fire alarm test scheduled for this week
- The north end of Daniels (Basement, 1st and 2nd floors) will be secured and blocked off from traffic entering or exiting that end of the building. If you, or your group, uses the Mills street exit for exiting the building, you should think about a different route.
- If at all possible, those in the north end of Daniels should exit the building at the Johnson street basement exits, and cross either Mills or Johnson to get away from the building.
- The door to the west of the Daniels north stairway (down the corridor where the vending machines used to be) is a designated egress route. If you have to use that door, you are going out into the loading dock area with all its traffic and two construction zones. You will need to take care when doing this; our recommendation is to go out the temporary driveway to University Ave. and congregate at the corner of University and Charter.
- Those using the north stairway in Shain will exit a few feet from the Charter Street construction zone and will need to head back toward the loading dock, follow the temporary driveway to University Ave. and congregate at the corner of University and Charter.
- Both stairways and exits in the Mathews wing are unaffected but because of Charter/Johnson St. construction the best route away from the building will be at Johnson and Mills Streets.
In preparation of the fire alarm test, please take a moment to identify two separate exit plans in case one is blocked. Remember that until the Madison Fire Department has confirmed that everyone has left the building, nobody can go back in.
The Johnson/Charter Street project is moving according to schedule. Excavations in Johnson Street are being restored this week and traffic will shift from one lane on each side of Johnson Street to the south side of the street so that work can be done in the north lane. By the end of next week, the construction zone will be mainly in Charter Street, where it will remain until the end of November.
This is a time of excitement and promise for our department. We are working hard to minimize the inevitable disruptions, and we look forward to major improvements in our facilities.
John Moore and Bob McMahon