Minimizing pain points during construction
Whether adding new programs or new buildings, most
higher education campuses must deal with geographical
constraints. A city may have undeveloped lots or might
be able to annex property; a university generally has to
stay within its boundaries when adding new programs or
buildings. And if a city needs to reconstruct a street and
utilities, it can detour traffic around the construction area.
On a campus, however, the construction zone might be
unavoidable.
That’s been the case at the University of Wisconsin-Eau
Claire (UWEC), which just wrapped up the reconstruction
of Garfield Avenue that runs through campus.
“When we do a major project, it really is very disruptive,”
said Mike Rindo, assistant chancellor for facilities and
university relations. “We have a city of 11,000 students
on about 100 acres of developed land. That’s a very high
density. Anything that we do is going to be much more
impactful and potentially disruptive in that very small
geographic area than what a city would do. It impacts all
the people who live there.”
Rindo said engineers need to be very mindful of the
rhythm of campus life and how to minimize the disruption,
doing as much work as possible during the summer or
other breaks when fewer students are on campus. “But
20│ TRENDS
there’s only so much time available to get a project
done,” he said. “If you can plan on the front end and look
at all possible contingencies, you can do a better job of
minimizing the impact.”
Looking at the big picture is part of the process for Angi
Goodwin, who has been involved with dozens of projects
on the UWEC campus, including the Garfield Avenue
project. The primary goal of the Garfield Avenue work was
to replace aging infrastructure in the heart of campus,
while converting most of the street to a pedestrian
walkway that takes advantage of the university’s
connection to the Chippewa River. The project was
modeled after goals of the campus master plan, providing
a base and standards to work from throughout the design
process.
Master planning is crucial to identify potential projects,
and required for universities to submit those projects in
the two-year University of Wisconsin System budget cycle.
The university also has a six-year capital fiscal development
plan that looks at what projects will move forward over six
years.
“So many people are impacted by every project, and
they all have different priorities,” Goodwin said. She noted
many individuals and departments may have input in a
project, and the ideas they bring help make the projects
successful.