How South Lot will look through the winter (another row of parking added back in)

Right now, two bays of parking are available on the west side of the South Lot in front of Wells Fargo Sports Complex. Once the contractor is able to pull his equipment in closer to the Engineering Building site, another bay of parking will open in this lot, for an addition of roughly 60 more spaces. Pictured at left is the expected status for this parking lot and construction site throughout this winter. Illustration provided by Facilities. Click here for a larger version.

Meanwhile, an analysis of spaces within the fenced area in the North Lot behind GHH shows that moving all this gear will open up 104 spaces. The new shuttle stop in this lot will take up four spots, and cutting the curb will eat two more. But an additional 30 parking spots will be available outside of the fenced area as Facilities continues to relocate its equipment to allow more parking in this lot.

Going to UAA One Stop over the weekend? Read this.

There are special hours in Advising and Testing and the One-Stop this weekend, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. WolfCard and Cashiering are not presently planning to be open.

The Municipality has advised UAA that rain has prevented start of the paving project planned for weekday evenings this week. Initially they had planned to close the intersection of 36th and Old Seward Highway Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.

Because of the persistent rain the closure of that intersection could, is likely, to include day time hours now as the rush to complete paving during breaks in the rainfall this weekend.

The main entrance to the University Center (40th Avenue) will be open and the traffic signal in operation, but Old Seward Highway may be closed north of the light.

Anyone coming to the University Center this weekend should approach the building from the South (Tudor Road) or from the West coming across directly on 40th Avenue.

Got parking? UAA campus parking survival guide

Click here for full-size campus map.

You can’t help notice that UAA is growing. New buildings are rising, roads are hatching roundabouts, trees are moving and new footpaths are emerging—right before our eyes.

We know campus does not look like it did when you left last May. So here is our short, fall 2013 parking survival guide. In it you can learn:

• Where new parking spaces have been added; when more will open up
• Where’s the newest shuttle stop, and faster shuttle arrival times
• Best places to park for a bookstore visit (hint: not where you parked last year)
• How to ride city buses for free; other alternatives to driving to campus
• How to get between the dorms and campus during road construction

So, here’s the facts

Seawolf Shuttle stops every six minutes; every 20 at UC.

• Seawolf Shuttle frequency will increase to every 6 min; every 20 min at UC. Parking your car for free at UC, and using the shuttle to get to campus, could be a smart strategy.
• Health Sciences Building across Providence Drive has an expanded parking lot, with 60 new spaces.
• The North Lot, behind Gordon Hartlieb Hall (GHH) has 50 new spots; within a month, it will have 50 more. New Seawolf Shuttle stop and a new Pay 'n' Park machine here, too.
• Pay ‘n’ Park machines upgraded to be faster, take credit or debit and EXACT CHANGE.
• Spirit Drive will re-open for circulation Aug. 21.
  
• The lot in front of Wells Fargo Sports Complex, home to the new Engineering Building, only has two parking rows open on the far west end of the lot. When you visit the bookstore for books and gear, don’t try to park here. Next best places? Behind Rasmuson Hall or behind GHH.
• Parking enforcement begins again Aug. 26 from 7:30 am-7:30 pm M-Th. Parking is always free Fridays and on the weekends.
• UAA has sufficient parking for demand; perimeter lots (East Lot near Arts and West Lot near Lake Otis Parkway) are consistently underutilized. Pragmatic strategies include parking in one spot for the day and using the Seawolf Shuttle, bikes, footpaths and spines to navigate campus.
• See ‘Alternatives to driving to campus' below; UAA has good options.
• Elmore Road with its shiny new roundabout will re-open Sept. 2. Until then, navigate between campus and the dorms:

• On foot: Walk along Wellness Drive; it has a new sidewalk
• By car: Get to Tudor, turn north on Elmore
• By Shuttle

Alternatives to driving to campus

Always free with a Wolf Card.

• U-Pass (ride the People Mover or Valley Mover for free anytime anywhere)
• Zimride (online carpool system)
• Hertz on Demand 24/7 (short term car rental from campus)
• Seawolf Shuttle

Pedestrians, People Mover stop at Spirit Way/Providence Drive affected by ML&P work

UPDATE Aug. 14, 2013: This work has been halted for now, so we don't anticipate any bus stop or pedestrian disruption as fall semester gets underway. Should that status change, we will update this post.

Municipal Light and Power (ML&P) will conduct work for an unknown duration of time tentatively beginning  this weekend at the intersection of Spirit Way and Providence Drive.

It is unlikely that any vehicular restrictions will apply; however, pedestrian traffic will likely be affected (the People Mover bus stop and sidewalk on the northwest corner of the intersection may be closed).

Any questions or concerns should be director toward Cory Fischer, Assistant Project Manager, cjfischer@uaa.alaska.edu, (907) 786-6763.

Elmore closure may require UAA travel detours, Aug. 12–Sept. 2

As part of the construction of UAA's new sports arena, the Alaska Airlines Center, GMC Contracting Inc. will be closing Elmore Road to through traffic between University Lake Drive and Sharon Gagnon Lane beginning Aug. 12. The closure will last until approximately Sept. 2 as crews build a new roundabout intersection and complete underground utility work.

This road closure will not allow for vehicular or pedestrian traffic. Please follow the construction DETOUR signs for alternative routes. See map for closure location.

Elmore Road closure between University Lake Dr. and Sharon Gagnon Ln., Aug. 12–Sept. 2

Piper Street, Dale Street, Lake Otis Parkway and Providence Drive are recommended alternative routes to and from campus and UAA's residential community.

Please plan on giving yourself extra travel time.

For more information, contact GMC Contracting Inc.: (907) 771-7728.

High voltage work on campus

UPDATE (Aug. 7, 2:30 p.m.):  There is a scheduled power outage for the west campus on Friday, Aug. 9, from 6–8 a.m. Affected buildings include:

• Gordan Hartlieb Hall 
• Automotive & Diesel Technology
• Lucy Cuddy Hall
• Beatrice McDonald Hall
• Sally Monserud Hall
• Professional Studies Building
• Wendy Williamson Auditorium
• Eugene Short Hall
• Allied Health Sciences
• Rasmuson Hall

ML+P will be connecting to the new switch cabinet, see project 2 below. UAA Facilities Maintenance will be on site.

Original post:
There are two separate electrical projects on campus occurring almost simultaneously. There is no scheduled power outage. However, with work on the east campus electrical primary, please be aware there is an elevated chance that an outage may occur due to human error or mechanical failure.

Project 1: Preventative maintenance work on high voltage switchgear A
Dave Cannon with Anvil Corporation has been contracted to do the work, Aug. 6 and 7, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. No power outages are expected from this work, though we will need to be on heightened alert that we could experience one. Outages have occurred in the past when this work has been done. They have been brief and do not affect the entire campus but will affect entire buildings.
Should an outage occur the following buildings will be affected:

    •    Social Sciences Building
    •    Energy Module 2
    •    Central Parking Garage
    •    Natural Sciences Building
    •    Engineering Building
    •    Student Union
    •    Campus Bookstore
    •    Wells Fargo Sports Complex
    •    Energy Module 1
    •    ANSEP Building

Project 2: ML+P upgrade of the west campus primary metering and switching cabinet
This project involves the UAA-owned east campus (see building list above) high voltage primary and west campus high voltage primary interface with ML+P just to the west of Rasmuson Hall. Our high voltage system was set up for a seamless power transfer between feeders, so unless something goes wrong, no outage for the East Campus is being planned at this time.

ML+P will be replacing the metering and switch cabinets. To accomplish this, we will be using our east campus switch cabinets to transfer power between our parallel feeders. The intent is to be able to shut off the power so ML+P can remove and adjust the cables. ML+P is currently investigating the job and we expect them to begin the actual work next week. We will issue an update when the work progresses, with planned impacts to West Campus.

Please refer your questions about these projects to Tom Sternberg, CFM, director of Facilities Maintenance and Operations: thsternberg@uaa.alaska.edu or (907) 786-6947 (office) or (907) 980-6865 (cell).