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Construction Plans

Last Updated: June 19, 2008

Street striping, pool resurfacing, more projects to take place this summer

By Gwen Mickelson

Street striping of roadways and grounds access areas will take place this summer, probably in August. Coolidge Drive will not be re-striped, however, because it's a county road.

The East Field House pool will be resurfaced in April through August 2009. East Field House and West Field House tennis courts will also be resurfaced in late August and early September of this year.

From late June through September, trenching will occur along the west side of Heller Drive for the installation of a "fiber optic" connection from a high-performance California network to the UCSC campus (see Currents story). Once workers reach the West Remote parking lot, they will trench across Heller and into the West Remote. Slight delays will occur, but disruption will be minimal. The West Remote lot will remain open.

Work under way at Digital Arts Building
Work is ongoing at the Digital Arts Building, near the Elena Baskin Visual Arts Center (see map).

Iron workers at the Digital Arts/New Media building construction site perform structural welds on beam-to-column connections this spring. (Photo by Carolyn Lagattuta)

Originally scheduled for completion in May 2009, officials now expect to complete the project in fall 2009. Thirty-six parking spaces have been lost throughout the construction work, and 15 spaces are available from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays during construction. The state-funded $25 million arts building is slated to house the expanding digital arts program as well as provide 10 studios for art faculty, a photography studio, and expanded space for music and theater arts classes. (See 2003 Review article for additional information.)

Domestic/fire water project will affect traffic
The domestic/fire water project, which will provide new underground water pipelines, is expected to start in July or August, with several months of lane or shoulder traffic control. The project will affect traffic on Heller Drive, from the Heller roadway near the Porter College entrance, to near the College 8 entrance. Work will also take place on the shoulder of Hagar Drive, from the Lower Quarry road intersection south, and turning west before the signal, to make a crossing of Coolidge Drive, near the Campus Facilities service road.

McHenry Library Addition nearly complete
The McHenry Library addition is 99 percent complete. The scaffolding has been extended to accommodate pedestrians in the back of the addition to the end of the pavement. Meantime, the renovation of the original McHenry building has started. Cement pours will take place for one year. Cement trucks will enter from Steinhart Way and exit through the Performing Arts lot.

Large windows on the new addition look out to the terraced lawn. (Photo by Phil Carter)

The library addition is designed to better serve library users by increasing space nearly 72 percent, adding approximately 81,600 square feet to the existing 114,000-square-foot library.

Construction will take about four years to complete, and is being done in two two-year phases. The addition--the first phase--is now open. The second phase, the renovation and earthquake retrofitting of the existing building, is scheduled to conclude in 2009.

The library will remain open throughout both phases. More information on the McHenry Library Addition and Renovation Project, including frequently asked questions, is available online at library.ucsc.edu/mcadd.

Ranch View Terrace update
The Ranch View Terrace project is moving along. Crews installing the telephone service lines will bore under Coolidge Drive near the Campus Facilities signal 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 18-20. The road will be open in both directions, but traffic control will be in place, so drivers should expect delays. Bus stops will be available in both directions.

The project will provide 45 single-family homes in its first phase. The three- and four-bedroom homes will be in the southern section of campus, adjacent to the Arboretum, and south of the Farm and Garden.

The site has the capacity to include an additional 39 homes in subsequent phases. The first units are expected to be available for occupancy in the fall of 2008. (See 2007 Currents story on March 5 groundbreaking.)

The project will include adding a road, tentatively called Ranch View Road, from Coolidge Drive to the homes. Because of the construction traffic and road work, the bike path in the area near the historic Blacksmith's Shop will be detoured during the construction period.

The bike path will then be reconfigured to provide a safer crossing at Ranch View Road and downhill access to Coolidge Drive.

Web sites providing additional information
Visit the Transportation & Parking Services web site for information on parking, maps of the campus, and alternative transportation.

Visit the Physical Planning & Construction web site for updates and maps on road closures, other construction impacts, and current and upcoming construction projects.

Visit the Highway 1/Highway 17 widening for merge lanes project web site for regularly updated information on the improvements to the interchange. The changes include adding merge lanes and reconstructing bridges to address specific safety issues.

Visit Metro Online for information on the Santa Cruz County Metro bus routes and schedules.

Visit the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission web site for information on commute solutions, ridesharing, and helpful links.

Visit the Caltrans Santa Cruz County web site for scheduled lane closures and delays in the county.