Here is information about engineering campus construction activities that may affect you in the coming week.
Important
- Pedestrians: Please avoid walking down Engineering Drive or Randall Avenue. Use designated sidewalks and crosswalks and refrain from walking in roadways or crossing mid-street. A map of approved pedestrian routes is available on the project update page at facilities.engr.wisc.edu.
- Vehicles: Be mindful of pedestrians in crosswalks; if you need to pause while traveling through campus, please keep crosswalks open. Please obey posted speed limit signs.
- Please obey flagger signals. Whether you are on foot, in a vehicle or using other transportation, these people are there to keep you safe when construction equipment is operating outside fenced areas.
- Plan ahead and keep your eyes up. Take extra care when traveling through or near the engineering campus. Be aware of construction and related vehicles entering and exiting various locations. Please avoid all fenced areas and construction trailers near the UW Athletics facilities. And most importantly, be patient and tolerant — your cooperation helps keep everyone safe.
New info: Changes and closures anticipated in the week ahead
- Beginning Feb. 12, we anticipate our utility contractor will begin installing fencing in front of the Mechanical Engineering Building for utility location work. We anticipate this will impact access to the service drive between ME and the Engineering Centers Building.
- On Feb. 5, crews will be lifting materials via crane onto the Mechanical Engineering Building roof. Note: We anticipate that access to Lot 17 will be unaffected, though the service drive between ME and the Engineering Centers Building may be closed briefly during that day. If you are traveling Engineering Drive from Randall Avenue and plan to park in Lot 17, you may need to access the lot via the east entrance (facing the green space adjacent to Engineering Hall).
- On Feb. 6-8, crews are planning a steam exhaust and compressed air shutdown for the Mechanical Engineering Building. We are working with building occupants who may be impacted by this shutdown.
- On approximately Feb. 12, the service drive between the Engineering Centers Building and the Mechanical Engineering Building will close to normal vehicle traffic. However, a new turn lane on Randall Avenue will enable vehicles to turn onto Engineering Drive from both northbound and southbound Randall Avenue.
Ongoing
- Pedestrians who normally walk along the service drive between ME and the Engineering Centers Building should continue to travel through ECB.
- We anticipate pile driving will continue through Feb. 7 on the Engineering Drive side of Engineering Hall. (There is a map forecasting pile driving locations on the project update page on our facilities website.)
- Waterproofing will occur intermittently through Feb. 13, weather permitting, on the Engineering Drive side of Engineering Hall, as well as near the former Engineering Mall side of the Materials Science and Engineering Building.
- At times, you may notice odors in buildings adjacent to construction activity. Most of these odors are temporary; however, if the odors persist, please contact our facilities team at coe-facilities@engr.wisc.edu. If needed, arrange an alternate work location with your supervisor.
- Semi deliveries can no longer be accepted at College of Engineering loading docks. We would like most deliveries requiring an elevated dock to go to MDS; however, larger items on flatbeds that cannot be accepted by MDS should be coordinated by contacting our facilities team at coe-facilities@engr.wisc.edu.
- The Engineering Research Building loading dock is partially open. Before scheduling large deliveries to this dock, please reach out to coe-facilities@engr.wisc.edu to coordinate your delivery.
For future planning or awareness
- Beginning the week of Feb. 16, crews will be drilling piles near the Engineering Drive entrance of the Engineering Centers Building.
Please be careful and aware: Whether you are on foot, bike, scooter, moped, in a vehicle, or otherwise, be alert and know what’s happening around you. If you see an immediate safety concern, please reach out to Pete Nemmetz, our assistant dean for facilities, right away, at pnemmetz@wisc.edu.
As always, many factors, including weather and other unknowns, may impact construction activities. If our contractors need to make unanticipated changes, I ask that you respect their instructions, and be patient with them and others.
Once again, our goal is to keep you informed about what’s happening for your safety and route-planning purposes.