Starting on June 2, University Drive South will be closed to enable progress on the Utility Corridor and Roadway Relocation Project (UCRRP). The $150 million dollar project aims to modernize the university’s utility system and reconfigure the roadway into a two-way system.
During this initial phase of construction, a two-way road system will be employed. The South Lot, Lot A, and Lot C will be closed. The university is encouraging commuters to take public transportation if possible, or to make Bayside Lot their first choice. Lot B, the Beacon Lot, Lot D, and the underground parking in the Campus Center will remain open.
“I believe the remaining lots on campus will fill early in the day, especially in the fall semester,” Manager of Construction and Master Planning Communications Holly Sutherland said.
The new routes will allow for access from Mt. Vernon street as well as from Morrissey Boulevard. The actual transition is still being planned, but the roads will be repainted in the conventional manner and there will be plenty of signage “both electronic and normal,” Sutherland said. The Bayside Lot will remain open full time throughout the summer.
The project is funded through the UMass Building Authority, and the main contractor is Bond Brother Co. The end result of the project will be a two-way road system that encompasses the new campus with bike lanes and sidewalks. The university’s utility corridor will run underneath the roadway and will have separate water systems for each of the campus’s needs.
“We are really modernizing our utilities,” Sutherland said.
Phase one of the UCRRP has already begun as the major connection chambers have been installed around campus, which is why University Drive South had been reduced to one lane. In June, it will be time to connect those chambers. 80-foot trenches will be created and the soil will be removed to the South Lot to be reused to raise new building foundations. Emergency vehicles will still have access to the Campus Center via University Drive South.
The UCRRP is just one of the many transformative projects meeting an important milestone on campus. In addition, General Academic Building Number 1 (GAB1) celebrated its Topping Off on April 30, signaling the completion of major ironwork by the Local 7 Ironworkers. The Integrated Science Complex (ISC), scheduled to open in the fall of 2014, met the workforce ratio requirements of the Boston Residents Jobs Policy, employing 50 percent Boston residents, 25 percent minority population members, and 10 percent women during all phases of its construction.
GAB 1 is a $113 million dollar project also funded through the UMass Building Authority, and it will house the art and chemistry departments, a 500-seat lecture hall, a 220-seat lecture hall, a 200-seat theater and 150-seat recital hall. It is expected to be completed in the fall of 2015.
The ISC will house a research lab and support space for biology, chemistry, environmental sciences, physics, and psychology. There will also be an undergraduate introductory biology teaching laboratory, the Infant Cognition Lab, and two new research centers—the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy and the Developmental Sciences Research Center.
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