Changes are continuing outside the building. The intermittent closings of the north crosswalk at Charter and Johnson Streets at the end of last week signal the beginning of the end of Johnson St. work, which should be completed (and Johnson St. fully opened) by October 1st. However, Charter St. work will continue until the end of November.
Starting the week of October 1st, the sidewalk and parking lane on the west side of Mills St. will be closed and the stop for number 4 and 13 buses will move to the south end of the block. Students approaching the building from the north and northeast will need to go down the east side of Mills St. to get to the Johnson St. entrances. If you are teaching, please warn students in your classes.
The following week abatement will begin in the brick house next to the “grassy knoll”. The house will be torn down beginning on October 19th. Our new tower’s footprint includes much of the area on which the house currently stands.
Inside the building, it is great to see that work has begun on abatement of asbestos and other hazards in the north end of the Daniels wing. When abatement is complete, that area will be demolished (beginning late October) to make way for our new chemistry tower. Where there used to be lecture rooms, a few classrooms, the lobby, and the library we now have a construction zone.
In anticipation of construction traffic in Daniels, we are removing some of the photographs from the first-floor walls. You may have noticed some blank spaces along the corridors. Many of the photographs will be relocated to higher floors in Daniels to keep them out of harm’s way.
This information is up to date as of last Friday afternoon, but things change fast so expect intermittent email notices as well as a weekly update in this newsletter about activities that may impact you and others in our building.
Our department is on its way to a great improvement in facilities. The next three years will be exciting!
John Moore and Bob McMahon