CU-Boulder is growing and expanding to meet the needs of the student body. As the campus experiences changes there will be some inconveniences like construction, but students will be well informed about the projects and how they can work around them.

“The construction and maintenance programs scheduled for CU-Boulder over the next few years will really revolutionize the level of service we provide to our students,” said CU-Boulder Vice Chancellor for Administration Frank Bruno. “These improvements will make it easier to get around campus and vastly improve the the services our facilities provide to students. We will update the student body and campus community regularly on our progress, and we are grateful for their combined support.”

Two people head up the effort to keep students informed about these projects: Megan Rose, communications coordinator for Facilities Management and Noel Cummings, assistant director for the Office of Capital Assets and Space Planning. Rose is a recent CU-graduate and understands the concerns of students. Soon she will begin giving presentations to students groups about the projects. The main purpose of the presentations will be to keep people informed and give students a chance to ask questions.

One of the projects will be an overpass crossing adjacent to Fiske Planetarium so that pedestrians and cyclists can go up and over the Regent Drive intersection. This will require that Regent Drive be closed to through traffic from approximately May 15, 2009 to approximately Aug. 1, 2009. “The majority of the inconvenience for this particular project will take place in the summer,” Rose said.

Cummings said the main goal is to regularly communicate about CU-Boulder’s bright future. “We are going to make every effort to keep people informed,” Cummings said. “It will be frustrating at times. Parking lots will disappear, roadways and bike paths will change but there is a purpose for all this. There will significant improvements to how the university operates.”

Some of the main construction projects students should be aware of include: the Visual Arts Complex, the Center for Community, a new heating and cooling plant, the North/South bikeway (Regent Overpass), Andrews Hall and the East side of Norlin Library.

Students walking to the UMC or the ATLAS building may have noticed that construction has started at the site of the Visual Arts Complex. This exciting state-of-the-art building will house the Art and Art History programs as well as the CU Art Museum. It will give arts students a beautiful new space to showcase there art. It is tentatively scheduled for completion in the winter of 2009. “It will be one of the first projects completed because it is already under construction,” Rose said.

Another important project that may impact students is the Center for Community, which will provide modern services and be a “one stop shopping area” for students, Cummings said. However, as a result there will be some closures. Construction for this extensive project will begin in 2009.

One project that is necessary for the campus to meet the growing student body is a new heating and cooling plant. This old plant is at capacity. During construction there will be times that putting in new lines will impede access certain places. The construction is designed to impact students as little as possible. “This is a multi-phase, multi-segmented process,” Cummings said.

Norlin Library is also a project that will be completed in phases. Students studying for midterms will see some construction taking place. “They are doing it a section at a time so it’s always open to students,” said Cummings.

Frequent updates on construction projects will be made available community-wide and a construction information website designed to help students, faculty and staff navigate campus projects id forthcoming.

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Building Our Future at CU-Boulder