Tunnel
Vision
Underground utility upgrades help Big 10 university
keep up with increasing demands
by Jason Sweet
“I
t’s like spaghetti.” That’s how Ayres Associates project
manager Kristine Anderson described the scene
underneath the streets of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Running on an annual budget of more than $2.7 billion, the
University comprises around 42,500 students and nearly
16,000 faculty and other employees. Though it offers plenty of
scenic lakeside vistas, the University’s location is hardly one
of idyllic seclusion. Rather, the campus sits smack in the midst
of Wisconsin’s capital city. That means a lot is packed in – and
under – the 936 acres of the University’s main campus.
To keep up with the demands of campus improvement
projects, the University recognized the need to upgrade all
existing campus utility distribution systems, which were
operating at or near their capacity. This was particularly
important for the East Campus Gateway and its proposed
pedestrian mall, an extensive corridor that was decades in the
making. At completion the mall would run past numerous new
developments, including University Square, which consists of
a nine-story, 237,000-square-foot Student Services Tower and
an 850,000-square-foot, 12-story tower that includes rental
apartments, retail space, and an underground parking structure.
Developments like this made utility upgrades imperative.
When it comes to a beautiful pedestrian mall meant to last
far into the future, the last thing anyone wants is excavation in
the area – the typical method to construct underground utility
Top: A portion of the 1,800-foot-long underground utility tunnel
installed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Bottom: Identifying
and locating underground utilities was a crucial part of the project
(see page 10).
6│TRENDS