UNM is now investing nearly $82 million in utility and construction projects across campus.
However, University officials say the end is near for many of those on-going campus projects, eliminating the orange flags, heavy construction equipment and safety barricades that have become an-all-too familiar sight for the UNM community.
According to the latest Major Capital Improvement Project Status Report, compiled by the UNM Department of Facility Planning, the new Student Union Building’s completion date is approaching, with a projected opening day in May 2003.
Once completed, the SUB will be a campus meeting, food service and activities center for UNM faculty and students at an overall project cost of $25 million, according to the Project Status Report.
The report states that law students can also expect the completion of the second phase of renovations to the UNM School of Law by May 2003.
“The work being done is the renovation of the existing building,” said Roger Lujan, director of UNM Facility Planning.
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The Cornell Parking Structure, another highly visible project on campus, has a projected completion date sometime in September at an estimated cost, according to the report, of more than $7.25 million.
The structure will increase the number of visitor parking spaces on campus and accessibility to Popejoy Hall, the SUB, the UNM Bookstore and Johnson Center, Lujan said.
UNM is also undergoing several campus utility and energy conservation projects.
Five central campus utility projects have estimated completion dates ranging from this month to December 2004 and a combined estimated cost of $15.2 million.
The report gives an estimated cost of $14.2 million for the various ongoing campus energy conservation projects. It also states that those projects are about one-third of the way complete.
The trench work north of the bookstore is also an ongoing project that many believe has become an eyesore on campus.
The utility trench will eventually extend all the way from the future sight of the new School for Architecture and Planning to the Cornell Mall south of the SUB.
Another prominent campus project is the work being done at Johnson Field.
Gary Smith, associate director of environmental services for the Physical Plant Department, said that the field’s irrigation system is being renovated due to the beating it has taken from normal wear and tear.
“We’ve lost irrigation and it’s been abused due to use and heavy traffic,” Smith said. “So it can become an unsafe playing surface. We’re making efforts now to do half of the field at a time to make it a good surface to be safer for people who are playing sports.”
He said that the current work on the south side of the field is scheduled to be completed by May 2003. Work on the north side will begin in the fall to accommodate sports schedules and should be completed by December, Smith added.
With an estimated project cost of $20,000, Smith encouraged those who would normally walk through the field to instead walk around its orange fences to allow the newly planted seedlings to grow.
According to the Project Status Report, all of these campus construction and utility projects have a combined budget of $81,720,000.
