New construction update, June 19, 2013

UAA has an ongoing parking and traffic flow task force, aimed at bringing the best solutions forward as the university grows. That task force will meet throughout the summer and into the fall, and this blog will routinely include their construction and parking updates.

UPDATE: Engineering Industry Building (EIB)

Engineering Industry Building (EIB)

Project lead John Hanson's update:

• Underground work (storm drains, electrical power, natural gas connections) are moving forward. 
• Structural steel will start arriving in July and the building will start going up in early August.
• Connecting water to the new building is not expected to require any water outages to surrounding buildings; if that changes we'll update you here.

UPDATE: Parking Squeeze - adding back spots

Work this summer will include adding 63 parking spots across Providence Drive on the north side of the Health Sciences Building. As HSB students and faculty are able to park closer to their destination, that will free up more spaces in UAA's parking lots on the north side of Providence Drive.

In addition, there is an unloved and unused parking lot on the busy north side of campus where most of UAA is located. That lot is called the North Parking Lot (see below) and it is directly behind Gordon Hartlieb Hall and the Auto Diesel Technology Building. It has been a frequent staging ground for UAA maintenance work, and is often, wrongly, thought to be off limits. It is available, and better yet, the UAA facilities department will be relocating much of its equipment out of this lot to free up 100 parking spaces there in time for fall semester.

North Parking Lot, behind Gordon Hartlieb Hall,  will be getting 100 more spaces.

The task force is also actively pursuing the best location for a new Seawolf Shuttle stop in the North Parking Lot, and also adding a Pay 'n' Park machine. More on both of those developments as the summer progresses.

The parking and traffic task force meets again on July 10. Feel free to post questions or parking ideas on this blog before then.

Coming soon will be updates on the Elmore Roundabout.  Currently, the Alaska DOT is reviewing UAA's plans. Once they give a green light, we will be able to share that plan here, including schematics of the roundabout.

Thanks for reading!