Infrastructure Updates on Campus Continue

And yes, you can walk between Laurel Dr. and the library again

Lined with ground marks, gravel, orange fencing and machinery, the parking spots of Laurel Drive are no longer accessible to staff and students. Where a tree surrounded by brick once stood, now lies a sectioned-off zone where two workers constructed a new pathway.

Over the summer, Humboldt State staff and students received several updates about on-campus infrastructure arrangements including general maintenance, building renovations and repaved roads. Humboldt State Project Manager Michael Fisher said these updates are part of a large list of planned and required maintenance.

Parts of Laurel Drive are now closed off for this construction. On the bright side, the Theatre Arts building is now open since its closure in 2018 and will hold classes this semester. The pathway from the Library to Laurel Drive is now open as well. Gist Hall is also open as of August 12 after the asbestos contamination discovered last Spring.

Starting this semester until December 2019, Laurel Drive and Library handicap parking spaces, as well as pathways, will be redone to provide a path of travel to the Theater Arts Building and Library, respectively. The new path for wheelchair access from Laurel Drive will start at new handicap spaces and lead to the elevator in the Theatre Arts Building.

Notable projects finished over the summer include Wildlife and Fisheries Building roof replacements, repaving of the Library Circle and LK Wood Boulevard left turn, six HVAC control replacements, housing maintenance, refurbished lecture halls, a new elevator in the Natural Resources Building and the near-completion of the Theatre Arts and Library seismic retrofits.

Fisher also said portables in the Campus Events Field, which previously held the tutoring center and other facilities temporarily, are being moved out as the relocated tenants return home to the library.

One of the most visible changes to returning students is the repaved library circle and left turn lane on LK Wood Blvd. Fisher said this new turning lane, built in partnership with the City of Arcata, helps ease congestion and improve bus route times.

Less noticeable improvements are general “building system” updates in HVAC, electrical, plumbing and structural.

“Every component of our built environment has a life cycle,” Fisher said. “That includes streets, roads, sidewalks, our buildings, and our building’s infrastructure.”