Monday, March 3, 1997
CONSTRUCTION:
Bruin Walk partially shut for water main reroutingBy Toni
Dimayuga
Daily Bruin Contributor
Bruin Walk just won’t be the same for the next two years.
Water main work near the John Wooden Center has forced
construction crews to close off part of the campus’ main pedestrian
thoroughfare, causing students to take a detour while en route to
campus.
Officials plan to dig up the Intramural Field adjacent to the
John Wooden Center to reroute a major water main and add two new
levels to Parking Lot 4.
Even the hint of new construction makes some students wary.
"I’m sick of it. They’ve been doing construction everywhere. …
When people come to our school, it’s not good for them to see how
our school’s all fragmented by all this construction. It makes our
school look kind of bad," said Traci Mack, a first-year
physiological sciences student.
Students who use Bruin Walk to get to class will have to alter
their course and walk around the J.D. Morgan Athletic Center to
circumvent the construction.
The work site, outlined by scores of white concrete barriers and
the conspicuously large fence that has been constructed over the
last week, marks the beginning of the Structure 4 Expansion
Project, said Curt Castberg, project manager of UCLA Capital
Programs.
Castberg said that, over the course of the construction, workers
will eventually dig up the soccer field to add additional parking
spaces underneath it.
Starting today, workers will begin surveying Westwood Plaza in
preparation for the upcoming disruptions.
Since a number of major water and electrical lines run beneath
the plaza, crews will employ a technique called "potholing" to make
sure they avoid disrupting those lines.
While the water main relocation should be finished by April 30,
construction plans in and around the area extend well into 1999,
said Undergraduate Student Facilities Commissioner Eric Shaw.
According to Shaw, the Structure 4 Expansion Project is part of
the Student Services Cluster, which includes expanding the Wooden
Center, renovating the Plaza Building and renaming it the Arthur
Ashe Student Health Services Center, and replacing Towell Library
with yet another campus parking structure.
While all this future construction will likely frustrate some
students, Shaw emphasized that any complaints can be directed to
his office.
"I think it’s important that students address their concerns
about construction," he said.
Some students do not seem to mind the annoyance.
"It’s a little bit of an inconvenience, but it’s not too bad,"
said Furah Faruqui, a second-year biology student. "You just have
to walk around it. It hasn’t bothered me too much. It’s kind of
loud, but other than that, I don’t have a problem with it."