Construction Update: Football Traffic

At last week's Construction Junction, there were updates given on a lot of the road construction and parking issues around campus that could have affected football season. Lets run through some quick updates:

Farm Lane:

As we first reported back in April, Farm Lane will not be ready and open for football season. They suffered another setback because of all of the rain so far in August, and not all of the drainage is completely functional yet. They were granted an extension until September 22nd, and that is the current date they are looking at for reopening the road and sidewalks. The comment at the Construction Junction was "We might be able to do better, but that's the plan."

It should be noted that the date of September 22nd is for opening the road, not the completion of all work. There will be periodic lane closures for landscaping work, etc. related to the project. Those lane closures most likely won't occur on game days.

Mt. Hope Road Reconstruction:

They are scheduled to reopen the closed section of Mt. Hope (currently by the commuter lot from Farm Lane to Harrison) tomorrow, August 18th at the latest. It could already be open (I've not driven over there) because as of last week they were "Quite a bit ahead of schedule." At this point the section from Harrison west to the US127 overpass will go down to one lane in each direction. While this will cause some traffic backups, it should not be nearly as big of a problem as the full road closure has been. They have had to put flaggers at some intersections because of traffic backups.

One consideration here though is that the intersection of Mt. Hope and Harrison will be reconfigured slightly during the construction, and so there may be some slow down at this point on football Saturdays. But that said, with the pace they are ahead of schedule, it's possible that this project won't last long into the season anyway.

Birch and Wilson:

This was supposed to be done last Friday, but is running delayed. Roads and sidewalks should now open on Saturday, August 22nd at the latest, so no issues for football here.

Shaw:

Shaw by the Cyclotron has been down to one lane for much of the summer. This will be back to normal by football season.

Construction Update: Old College Field

The next phase of construction at Old College Field is gearing up, this time affecting the softball field. While the new baseball stadium opened for this season, renovations throughout the complex are still ongoing, such as at the concessions and restroom building. Now work is getting ready to begin to upgrade the stands and press box for the softball field.

Plans were presented for the new Drayton McLane, Jr. Stadium at this month's Construction Junction in Wells Hall. These plans will go before the MSU Board of Trustees in September before any work will begin, but the plans are part of an already approved overall development plan for the Old College Field project, so don't expect there to be many changes to these.

The complete presentation may be found online here.






Images courtesy of Michigan State University.

Construction Update: MSU's Shooting Facility

Another tidbit from last week's Construction Junction was the slide show of images of the almost complete John and Marnie Demmer Shooting Sports Education and Training Center. The center, a $3.5 million, 23,000 square ft. center will be the second largest of its kind in the Midwest. It will be used to support MSU's shooting sports, as well as classes and activities for both Michigan State students and greater community education.

The complex is a natural fit at MSU, a school with strong agricultural and resource management ties. Students interested in a variety of related degrees can benefit from having this type of experience. While the NCAA does not sanction all shooting sports, MSU still fields club teams in Archery and Rifle Marksmanship.


Images courtesy of Michigan State University.

Construction Update: Football Parking

Sorry for the delay on this post, but once last Sunday's wedding "after party" stretched on to Wednesday morning, I realized that I could wait until Thursday's Construction Junction for a more complete update. Congrats again to Derek!

First and foremost, it was announced at Thursday's meeting (and it was reported in the State News) that Mt. Hope road will be resurfaced this summer. This wasn't originally on the schedule, but evidently the federal stimulus package is contributing the funds. The stretch of road that will be affected is from the US-127 bridge to Farm Lane. Construction is slated to begin in late July or early August, in order to have the project finished by fall welcome for students (and whenever anyone says "fall welcome for students," think "first football game." That is what everyone really cares about.)

Then there is the bigger issue of the delay to the Farm Lane underpass project that was first discussed on this site back in April. The project appears to be staying on the revised schedule, which should have it completed sometime within the first few weeks of football season. We'll let you know if we hear anything different.

Finally, there is a massive steam tunnel reconstruction going on at Wilson and Birch on campus. This is the area between Wilson and Holden Residence Halls. This project is slated for completion before "fall welcome for students."

Looking at all of these projects together, the first few football games this year have the potential to either be much better traffic-wise than last season, or be much worse for parking and traffic than anything experienced recently. If all projects finish on time or early, football traffic should be a breeze this fall. But, assuming that Farm Lane does not open, than football parking will start with the same busing hassles that fans endured last season. If either the Mt. Hope resurfacing or the Wilson/Birch projects are delayed, fans will be looking at additional issues. Wilson/Birch is very close to the student tailgating area at the Tennis Courts, which can already be a traffic nightmare before some games.

If Farm Lane is closed, and Mt. Hope is delayed, there will not be much of a difference to those parking in the commuter lot. A few extra minutes added to an already much longer trip is not worth complaining about, and many people who would park in that lot are parking in other areas until Farm Lane reopens. However, the "fun" scenario is if Farm Lane opens early, but Mt. Hope is delayed. Fans will flock back to the commuter lot for parking and what will be the quickest bus trip ever to Spartan Stadium. But first, all those fans would have to endure the massive backup caused by the resurfacing in order to get there.

If I were to make a prediction based on my knowledge today, I would guess that Wilson/Birch will finish on time, Farm Lane will open about two weeks into football season, and Mt. Hope will open sometime after the first game. So, parking for that first game could be tricky. Working in fans favor though is MSU's schedule, where the first game is hardly worth printing the fancy glossy tickets. There is a good chance some fans won't be showing up anyway.

We'll continue to monitor the status on these projects.

Image courtesy of Michigan State University.

Construction Update: Old College Field

During our extended Memorial Day break there was another construction junction, and this was a busy one! It was so busy in fact, that we will be splitting the update over two posts. Today's update will discuss more improvements to Old College Field, and then over the weekend there will be an update on campus traffic and parking issues for the fall.

The big presentation related to athletics at the last construction junction was presenting plans for the Concessions and Restrooms Building at the field, which will serve the new McLane Baseball Stadium as well as softball and soccer. MSU's design of that area is very efficient, with shared common areas for all three fields.

Here are the online notes for the presentation:

• New soccer and softball fields complete

  • New baseball field was complete on May 2
• Project scope
  • Add concessions and restrooms to the baseball facilities
  • Added to electrical top the building
  • It will be located at the west end of the field
  • Will look like the batting/pitching facility
  • The building materials enable the building to be “floodable.” Should flooding occur, all doors can be opened.

Note the last bullet point, that the building will be "floodable." This is important because this entire area is located within the Red Cedar's flood plain, and it is very likely that a flood will occur here within the lifespan of this stadium complex.

Images here were taken from the presentation, located online here.

Farm Lane May Not Be Ready For Football

Get ready for another season of parking and traffic headaches, MSU football fans. Or at least be ready for issues the first few games. The Farm Lane project, which closed the road all of last football season to create two underpasses at the railroad crossings, is behind schedule and may not be open in time for the start of the 2009 football season. Thousands of season ticket holders generally park in the MSU commuter lot each game, and ride buses or walk to Spartan Stadium. With Farm Lane closed last season, the bus ride became longer, and walking was almost impossible.

At this month's Construction Junction on April 9th, an update was given on the status of the project, where it was announced that the project was behind schedule because of "challenges this winter."

"It appears the Farm Lane project may not open now to traffic until late summer/early fall which would put it after fall semester begins," said Karen Zelt, of the MSU Physical Plant. "We are still hoping that the roads will reopen before school begins in August, but the project currently is slightly behind schedule."

Fall semester is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, September 2nd. The first MSU football game is that following Saturday, September 5th against Montana St. The Spartans play again the next Saturday, September 12th, against Central Michigan.

MSU's football schedule may actually end up looking pretty lucky with regards to parking and traffic. Playing the first two home games against smaller schools means that there should not be the enormous crowds coming to campus that some Big Ten games generate. And after those two opening games, officials will have a little more time to open the road. MSU is away for two weeks until they return October 3rd against Michigan.

Photo courtesy of MSU

Construction Junction Tomorrow Morning

The next MSU Construction Junction is tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. The meeting agenda does not have any specific athletic facilities to be discussed, but there is an update on the Farm Lane project, which impacts football parking. The announcement is below:

Engineering and Architectural Services, a branch of the Physical Plant Division, continues “Construction Junction” Construction Planning and Progress Meetings. These meetings serve as monthly opportunities for the campus community and its neighbors to offer input and ask questions about planned construction across campus.

Construction Junctions are at 8:30 a.m. the second Thursday of the month. Meetings are in B104 Wells Hall.

· Emmons Hall Renovation

· Life Science Addition


And updates on various projects, including:

· The New Farm Lane — Underpasses Construction

· Wilson/Birch Roads – Steam Distribution and Road Reconstruction

· Wharton Center — Addition No. 1 and Renovations

· Cyclotron – Office and Low Energy Research Additions

· MSU Surplus Store and Recycling Facility

· Secchia Center — MSU College of Human Medicine Grand Rapids

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Construction Junction Tomorrow Morning

The next MSU Construction Junction is tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. While the meeting agenda does not have any specific athletic facilities to be discussed, there are several road projects that may impact those attending athletic events, as well as an update on the Farm Lane project, which we all know impacts football parking. The announcement is below:

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Construction Junctions are at 8:30 a.m. the second Thursday of the month. Meetings are in B104 Wells Hall. (http://maps.msu.edu/interactive/index.php?location=wh).

The agenda is as follows (subject to change):

• MDOT: US-127, I-96 Road and Bridge Work (for more information and to subscribe to project listservs, visit www.michigan.gov/mdot).
• City of East Lansing: Mt. Hope Road Reconstruction (from US-127 to Lot 89), and Harrison Road Reconstruction (from Red Cedar bridge to Trowbridge Road intersection)

• MSU Food Stores: Alterations to freezer walls

The meeting will also provide updates on various projects:

• The New Farm Lane: Underpasses Construction

• Wilson/Birch roads — Steam Distribution and Road Reconstruction

• Wharton Center — Addition No. 1 and Renovations

• Cyclotron — Office and Low Energy Research Additions

• MSU Surplus Store and Recycling Facility

• Secchia Center — MSU College of Human Medicine in Grand Rapids