Furniture deliveries for Buchanan Towers start July 28, during which time a semi-truck will be on South College Drive for 5-8 hours each day. BOSS will provide a flagger and/or a detour sign to direct traffic onto Bill McDonald Parkway.
Deliveries are scheduled daily from July 28 through August 3.
It seems that no matter where one turns on the Western Washington University campus this summer, construction of some sort is visible.
Among the many projects taking place on campus are renovations to the exteriors of Wilson Library and the Art Annex. Both of the buildings are receiving exterior treatments this summer to stop leaks and obviate the need for continuous maintenance due to the damage those leaks can cause.
A traffic crew from the city of Bellingham is working to improve the intersection of 25th Street and Bill McDonald Parkway, next to the Archives Building.
As part of the project, the city plans to add traffic signals, add turning lanes in the median strips on Bill McDonald Parkway, add ADA-compliant sidewalk ramps, install new curb and gutter north of 25th Street along the Buchanan Towers site, repave the intersection and stripe the crosswalks and turn lanes.
The work will start Tuesday, July 6, and is scheduled to be completed by Aug. 21.
This music video from Facilities Management at Western Washington University parodies "The Twilight Zone" television show to disseminate information regarding construction awareness and safety at WWU.
A bright copper roof has been going up atop Miller Hall at Western Washington University this week. The building, originally built in the 1940s and then added on to in the 1960s, is undergoing a complete renovation.
Facilities Management's "The Shape of Things to Come" newsletter has been given a new shape. The traditional printed newsletter describing significant upcoming and ongoing construction projects on the Western Washington University campus has given way to an interactive online map that allows the user to click on a specific building to find more information about related construction.
Charles Dickens opens his classic "A Tale of Two Cities" with the lines: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” This summer Western will experience an unprecedented amount of construction work. As I type my notes, I have counted a total of over 70 projects that are already either awarded to construction contractors or scheduled for Facilities Management execution.
The electrical subcontractor working on the Miller Hall Renovation Project will temporarily block one lane of East College Way directly behind Miller Hall from 7 to 11 a.m. Tuesday, May 11.
The purpose of this disruption will be to lay out out 150 feet of electrical cable needed for the newly constructed electrical room below the north end of the 1940s building. The contractor will install the large diameter cable in the building via a new air shaft.
People protesting against Ebenal General Inc., general contractor for Western’s Buchanan Towers residence hall addition, were in the area of the Buchanan Towers construction site on south campus this morning. The Laborers Union has a labor dispute with Ebenal.
If Whatcom County's economy is hoping for construction to turn things around, it may be waiting at least another year.
While there are pockets of activity, this year is shaping up to be a challenging one for general contractors, particularly when it comes to commercial projects.
"2010 is looking bleak, but there are some opportunities to make money," said Liz Evans, northern district manager of the Associated General Contractors of Washington. "Local contractors are still looking outside the area for work, but there are a few major projects around here later this year."
Excavation for the new glass stairwell foundation immediately south of the Miller Hall bell tower began Thursday, Jan. 28. The contractor will continue excavation of the area this morning. Excavated earth will be hauled off site by trucks that will enter and leave the site in front of the bell tower.
Trucks will cross the pedestrian entry path to Miller Hall approximately every 30 minutes until the excavation is complete.
On Monday, Jan. 25, Dawson Construction will begin construction of barrier walls inside Miller Hall corridors. Shortly after that, demolition for the new electrical room in the dirt crawl space area of the basement in the north east corner of 1940s building will begin. Several other areas will be impacted as part of this work. The interior ramp at the north end of the building will be demolished, as will the adjacent office suite (Room 153) above the basement electrical room. Office suite 155, which is above suite 153, also will be part of the demolition area.
On Jan. 13, crews from Dawson Construction began removal and demolition of the brick wall at the north stair tower of Miller Hall on the Western Washington University campus. This is the wall south of the London Plane tree and south of the bell tower entrance.
As state legislators gather in Olympia to close the $2.6 billion budget gap, the chief concern for business owners appears to be not whether tax hikes are coming, but how big they will be.
The 60-day legislative session begins Monday, Jan. 11, and lawmakers are tasked with fixing the problem by making cuts, raising more revenue or both.
State Sen. Dale Brandland (R-Bellingham) visited the Western Washington University campus on Wednesday, Jan. 6, for a tour of the ongoing construction at Miller Hall.
During his tour, Brandland and WWU President Bruce Shepard stopped to say a few words to members of the construction crew, from Dawson Construction.
"As bad as the economy is right now, I shudder to think where we would be if we didn't have projects like this," Brandland said. "We're going to recover from this, and stuff like this is really what's going to get us back."
For many people, the decade from 2000 through 2009 brought a transformation of Bellingham and Whatcom County, leaving this community feeling less like an overgrown small town and more like a small city.
"There are a lot more new people in town," said Taimi Gorman, Fairhaven businesswoman. "I can go places and not know anybody."
Countywide, population rose by 26,274 people during the decade, according to state estimates, topping off at 193,100.
Debra Sams, a program coordinator with the Educational Leadership-Instructional Technology program, took these images of Miller Hall construction from her office window on Thursday, Dec. 17. The images show workers installing pilings for a new stairwell, Sams said.
On Thursday, Nov. 19, drilling and casting of augercast pilings will begin in the courtyard of Miller Hall. These pilings are being constructed to support the new “collaboration structure.”
The piling auger will be mounted on a small, diesel-run, excavator-like piece of equipment smaller than the forklift that has been on site. The hollow stemmed auger will be used to drill into the ground to a specific depth. A concrete mix will be pumped down the stem of the auger while the auger is slowly withdrawn, leaving a shaft of fluid concrete to ground level.
This is the eighth edition of my Desk Notes. Facilities Management has finished up with almost all of the "summer" projects at this point (Yes, I do realize it's fall. I think I was tipped off by the torrential down pours … either that or the consistently bad news coming out of Pullman and Seattle vis-à-vis football) and we are starting to gear up for next summer. We have four major on-going projects that will continue through the academic year.
High Street will be partially imposed upon on from roughly 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12. A lift truck will occupy part of the street in connection with the Wilson Library construction. Traffic should be able to pass by each other, but it will be tight. Those performing maintenance, making deliveries or performing other tasks in the area should avoid parking across the street. The contractor will block it off early in the morning.
This is the seventh edition of my Desk Notes. I got a number of responses to my query as to whether I should continue with these Desk Notes through the academic year. The consensus seems to be that they furnish some good information or, failing that, a bit of a diversion in a busy day. That being the case, I will continue sending these out until the FCC intervenes. For those of you who have more than enough e-mail, please just hit “delete” when you see the Desk Notes subject or, better yet, set up a rule that automatically will send it to the trash bin.
