UAF Staff Council Unit 5 (Geophysical Institute)

This page is intended to offer information that I have received from various sources to the West Ridge community regarding the various construction projects that will be impacting our working world during the next decade or so. It is in no way meant to replace the formal planning and construction process that is in place through UAF Facilities Services, the Master Planning Committee, or the Operations offices of the GI, IARC, or any other West Ridge operations entity.

New Stuff

Here are some maps that might be useful in pdf: West Ridge, west end of West Ridge, Lower Campus, Core area of Lower Campus, entire UAF campus. These are the most current I have, but with mapping here as in most places, it's never completely up to date.

The Division of Design and Construction has established a webpage for West Ridge construction at: www.uaf.edu/ddc/WestRidgeCstrn.html. Look to there for the official notices.

Past Stuff

Dec. 22, 2003 - Parking Services is looking at budget scenarios for FY '05 and beyond. Increased transportation (shuttle) costs due to increased service, plus the need to improve some lots are creating a need to increase parking decal fees by $25-$40/year. However, they are also trying to find a way to have a transportation fee assessed to all students, who use the shuttle but likely don't pay for a parking decal, so as to spread the cost amongst all the users, a more typical university scenario. They are also looking at recommendations contained in the Parking and Circulation Study, such as converting the Gold Decal from a dedicated spot per vehicle to a dedicated lot system. This would reduce the cost of operating the Gold Decal system and also likely reduced the cost of a gold decal. More as it develops. If you want further details, give me a shout. Gary - 474-6929.

Nov. 24, 2003 - Steve Titus, Director of Division of Design and Construction(DCC) had this to say. "The 12 headbolt spots on the 2nd row from the East side of the AHRB West Lot will be returned to open decal use approximately December 1, 2003 and the remainder will be available after December 24, 2003. The contractor will be moving his facilities off site by the end of December." You can also look at a gains-losses spreadsheet DCC provided in Sept. 2003.

Nov. 20, 2003 - The Circulation and Parking Subcommittee is discussing the Parking Services budget and focusing on how to meet anticipated future years' shortfalls. Discussion over consideration of a "transportation fee" to spread the cost of shuttle service amongst all users, rather than just those who buy parking permits, is being discussed. There will be another meeting on this after more budgetary information is provided.

Nov. 13, 2003 - Not exactly West Ridge "Construction", but the Master Plan Committee is doing their final review of the Circulation and Parking Study, before sending it to the Chancellor for his approval. They seem to be tweaking some wording, but not changing the overall plan substantively. A couple more markups (9 am - 10 am Nov. 25 and Dec. 4) are scheduled. I'm told they will end up just offering their recommendations on the plan recommendations. More as it develops.

Oct. 30, 2003 - Opening discussion on planning/consideration of creating a restaurant just west (and attached to) the UA Museum has begun, prompted by Aldona Jonaitis, museum director. No funding is currently available, but it is felt it would enhance and be an attraction for both on campus and off campus diners. Of further thought would be what happens to the West Ridge Cafeteria. More as it develops.

Oct. 28, 2003 - I received the final KAI Circulation and Parking Study done by KAI for the Subcommittee on Circulation and Parking, under the direction of the UAF Master Plan Committee. Here is a 4.3mb pdf of the final plan from KAI, following public comment in September 2003.

Oct. 24, 2003 - The Division of Design and Construction shut down their webpage for West Ridge construction at: www.uaf.edu/ddc/WestRidgeCstrn.html.

Oct. 16, 2003 - The UAF Master Plan Committee met today and discussed their work plan for this next year. Included is a recognition that the West Ridge parking, particularly related to headbolt plug-ins, is still deficient from need. I anticipate their finalized work plan being posted on their website soon.

Oct. 16, 2003 - Chancellor Lind put out a letter a couple weeks ago, responding to many complaints on West Ridge Parking.

Oct. 2, 2003 - the UAF Master Planning Committee has created a standing subcommittee on campus landscape and outdoor art. Staff representation was not reflected in the committee composition, but if you have input, contact MPC chair Rick Caulfield, x5573.

Sept. 11, 2003 - Asking some questions about project status, got the following from UAF Design and Construction:

The plaza area will be complete by Oct. 5--pedestrian access and roadway available for use at that time.

The new "river road" (what Gary calls "Koyukuk Snake Dr.") will be paved by the end of September (completion pending weather).

Sheenjek Drive will be open to public access on Oct. 5.

UAF staff decal parking next to the museum for this winter will have 13 headbolt spaces and 25 non-headbolt spaces. 25 headbolt spaces will be added by next fall. An additional lot to the northeast of the museum with up to75 spaces will be added by next fall.

September 10, 2003

On Thompson Dr. project, the State DOT says that the contractor is required to temporarily pave the straight through section of the roundabout before winter. Maybe they will grade it once in while, too. Questions or complaints, let DOT field office know at 479-3081.

The Circulation and Parking Long Term Plan Study went back to the consultants for minor revisions and presentation to the campus community on Sept. 29. You can have a look at the final draft. One significant change I hope to see in the final report is a strong recommendation for support for mass transit to campus via the FNSB bus system, with increased number of routes around town. If we had the bus system we had over a decade ago, we would be reducing parking needs by over 250 spots.

I've done a quickie analysis of gain and loss for parking spots on West Ridge, not counting the museum spaces mentioned above:

West AHRC added 92 spots non-plugin
Koyukuk Drive - lost 100+ non-plugin
Sheenjek lot adding 73 plug-ins
WRRB Bldg adding about 40 plug-ins (eventually)
GI lot (WRRB footprint) lost 106 plug-ins
O'Neill lot lost about 30 spots, mostly plugin

With WRRB construction, we have a deficit of about 35 existing plugin parking spots PLUS spots for the new staff of WRRB come spring. The Nenana lot is already at capacity when plug-ins are needed. Taku lot is not yet to capacity.
• June 26, 2003 - The DOT construction for Morris Thompson Drive that has essentially prevented thru traffic between West Ridge and Fairbanks St. is due to be re-opened to non-impeded traffic around July 15, 2003. After this time, Facilities Services will begin on establishing a permanent gravel parking lot to the south of IARC, an extension of the existing AHRC west lot. This will displace most parking in the area and the staging area now used by the utilidor construction will not be available for parking until Sept. 5.

• June 26, 2003 - The UAF Master Plan Committee met and discussed several issues, including the Koyukuk Mall concept and redesign, accelerated substantially due to the utilidor contractor work that is happening on the ground. The consensus, formalized by a motion which passed, is that the original contracted plan should not go back in, opting instead for a curved one-way (East-West) road. While the concept was passed to Facilities Services to try to match to contractor changes needed now on the ground, there will be public comment period once school starts again. More once the contractor and UAF have a chance to negotiate a change order.
         The MPC also discussed the Lower Campus "Fountain of Flags" Quad and directed Facilities Services to remove the fountain and the eastern-most parking at the east end of Signers' Hall (which has been already displaced during library construction). They will be working to create a similar plaza to the one in front of Constitution Hall, all by Sept. A long term plan is also being discussed.
  

• June 25, 2003 - The Circulation and Parking Subcommittee of the Master Plan Committee met telephonically with the KAI consultants developing the long term Circulation and Parking Plan. While there are a couple of technical memos out (see me or any member of the subcommittee to review), there should be a first draft plan available by August 2003.

• June 13, 2003 - At the June Board of Regents meeting, Associate Vice-Chancellor for Facilities Kathleen Schedler discussed options for moving forward with the BICS project. In an effort to reduce visual impact to IARC, they are planning to bring the BICS building as close as possible to ARHC, so close that they figure they will have to demo the west wing of AHRC that houses the animal quarters and crematorium, which are recognized substandard now. They have tentatively identified the Sheenjek lot (mentioned below) or an area north of the Museum to replace these facilities. I wonder how much money will be left to build any BICS building.

• May 31, 2003 - Being discussed and open for campus input is the extension of the North Tanana Loop from the residential units all the way around GI/IARC. UAF is trying to get funding through DOT federal money - about $1 mm - perhaps in a few years. UAF had a relocation study done. Comments can go to the Master Planning Committee and/or the North Campus Subcommittee. May 31, 2003 - The Sheenjek lot is still slated for plug-ins to be available for fall-winter 2003.

• April 23, 2003 - Posted by GI Operations Manager Bob Grove - grove@gi.alaska.edu
  Compaction at the West Ridge Research Building site and for the Utilidor Expansion project will begin on Thursday, April 24. Utilidor compaction will begin from the front of the O’Neill Building west to the Arctic Health parking lot. Compaction can create vibrations that may be felt at adjacent buildings and by scientific instruments. For instrumentation problems, contact Design and Construction - Glen Kravitz ext. 6874, or Marc Wohlford ext. 2627. For other inquiries, contact westridgeconstruction@fs.uaf.edu or x5225.

• April 18, 2003 - At the April 2003 Kenai meeting, the Board of Regents approves the project and schematic design for the Biological and Computational Sciences (BiCS) Facility Parking Lot Project with a total project cost not to exceed $150,000 as presented, and authorizes the university administration to proceed with the construction. This 92 space lot will be constructed as a non-plug-in lot during the summer of 2003, with plug-ins likely in 2004.

• There will be an informational exchange and ice cream social meeting regarding West Ridge Construction conducted by the Division of Design and Construction taking place April 8, 2003 from 3:30 - 5:30 pm in the GI Globe Room. This will include the following projects:
  • UA MUSEUM EXPANSION
  • WEST RIDGE UTILIDOR EXPANSION
  • WEST RIDGE RESEARCH BUILDING
  • SUBARCTIC AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH UNIT
  • BUTROVICH BUILDING IMPROVEMENTS
  • IRVING 1 LOGISTICS OFFICE
  At long last! No firearms please.

  I will also be re-presenting the latest West Ridge Development Plan around 5:30 pm in the GI Auditorium (still on April 8, 2003) following the info meeting. This was first done as a part of the Avril Poisson (April Fool) Society's Spurious Chair Lecture on April 1, 2003. All are welcome. Without the special effects of Powerpoint, here is a pdf (4 mb!) of the presentation. I'm wondering how long it will be for some of the out-of-box suggestions to become reality.

• Parking Subcommittee survey and open house announcement. Please do fill out the survey. The earlier due date I mentioned for March 31 then April 15 completion has now been extended to April 29, 2003. Here is the Press Release for the April 7 Open House and survey. The Open House is NOT a time to address short term construction issues on West Ridge, so put on your long term thinking cap instead.

• From DDC: There will be one shuttle bus running from the Nenana lot to the IARC building every 8-10 minutes from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm. Also, the construction employees will park at the Nenana or Taku lot if there is not enough room in their construction area. If you see that construction employees are not parking properly, please contact the UAF Project Manager (see below).

• From GI Operations: Due to unforseen limitations, the WRRB construction trailer had to be preempt additional parking spots instead of behind Irving-O'Neill. Also, employee parking along the west fence of the WRRB construction area is okay.

  North Campus Committee upcoming meetings April 1, 2, 3 on their work. For those of you who use the area north of the GI for recreation or scientific endeavours, it might be to your best interest to see what's up. They prepared a presentation, that can be viewed in Acrobat here.

  The Division of Design and Construction has established a webpage for West Ridge construction at: www.uaf.edu/ddc/WestRidgeCstrn.html. Look to there for the official notices.

• Where to park? from Division of Design and Construction March 12, 2003.

The schedule for major project construction are always in flux, but this is what I have now.

• West Ridge Research Building - behind the Geophysical Institute - F.S. Project Manager Glen Kravitz - x6874 Construction started March 17, 2003 - ending about Sept. 2004 - Watterson Construction is the General Contractor and Exclusive Landscaping is the earthwork sub-contractor. They have to excavate 17' through frozen soils. Some photos.
• Utilidor Extension from Natural Sciences Facility to just beyond Arctic Health down Koyukuk Drive to support the future BISC Building - F.S. Project Director Cameron Marc Wohlford x2627 - Alcan General is the contractor for the Base Bid and Alternate #1 - construction to start April 2003 - end July 2004. Some photos.
• Museum Expansion - Alaska Mechanical has received the bid award - start Spring 2003, complete fall 2005 - F.S. Project Manager Carol Adamczak - x7362. Check out the Live Webcam.
• Subarctic Ag Research Unit (modular units behind the old greenhouse) - bid awarded to GBC - start May 2003, presumably finish by Fall 2003 - Project Manager George Ferree - x6694
• Thompson Drive (extension of Loftus to access UAF in place of Fairbanks St.) - Photo drawing (3.2 mb Acrobat file) and basic sketch - this is a State DOT project, Steve Henry, DOT Project Manager. The roundabout intersection will be constructed during summer of 2003, the main road to Loftus mostly next winter (2003-2004) due to soils considerations, though they have already started clearing the right of way. I believe Exclusive Landscaping has the bid on this. Their laydown lot will be the undeveloped west end of the Nenana Lot south of Patty Gym. The recently landscaped fields further to the west won't be affected, summer soccer will continue. Traffic through the intersection will be slowed but not blocked during construction. Some photos.
• Cold Climate Research Building - this is a new project that will access off of Thompson Drive and is a project of the Cold Climate Housing Research Center, now located in downtown Fairbanks. They are looking to start soils testing drilling this spring. It is just south of the railroad tracks and west of Fairbanks Street.
• Other smaller projects on West Ridge are the remodel of the Butrovich west 1st floor and relocating the air intakes on the east and continued rehab work at AHRC.
• Not West Ridge, but some folks may be wondering when the Fine Arts/Rasmusson complex will be complete. The library isn't due to be completed until Summer 2003, but Fine Arts complete April 2003.

• West Ridge Construction Update by Gary Newman Mar. 7, 2003

• West Ridge Construction Update by Gary Newman Feb. 12, 2003

• Circulation and Parking Subcommittee of the Master Planning Committee activities

• West Ridge Utilidor Project Update to Gary Newman Jan. 16, 2003 from Cam Marc Wohlford, Project Manager

• West Ridge Construction Update Jan. 10, 2003 by Gary Newman

• Basic Floor Plans for the West Ridge Research Building
  • Basement in PDF in Voloview dwf (Voloview is a PC based Internet Explorer (not Netscape) plug-in developed by Autodesk for viewing CAD drawings Version 2.01 and can be downloaded here)
  • First Floor in PDF in Voloview dwf
  • Second Floor in PDF in Voloview dwf

• UAF Trails Map

• The North Campus Subcommittee of the Master Plan Committee, co-chaired by Pat Holloway recently prepared a Powerpoint presentation on their work in progress to identify resources and issues for the area north of West Ridge development. Please contact Peter Fix if you would like more information about this presentation. You can view this in Acrobat, but it is over 3 mb big, so don't try this at home!