Summer improvement projects under way

One of the signs of summer at Rice are the repair projects that get under way after students leave campus.

At the May 15 Administrators’ Forum, Doug Tomlinson, assistant vice president for project management and engineering, mentioned the following improvements that are scheduled over the summer:

• College Way in front of Tudor Fieldhouse is currently closed so that the  roadway can be demolished and replaced. The road should reopen around May 28.

• The football practice field is currently being regraded and resodded, and sprinkler heads are being replaced. The project should be finished by June 15.

• Small sections of Campanile Road will undergo structural repair between mid-May and late summer, but the road will remain open.

• In Alice Pratt Brown Hall, interior fluorescent lighting will be replaced, and so will windows in the Edythe Bates Old Grand Organ Recital Hall. These projects should take place during June and July.

• In the Mudd Building, electrical switches will be replaced. Phones and Ethernet connectivity will be powered by generator while the work is in progress. Dates for this project will be announced later.

• In Baker College, the air conditioning system in the tower will be upgraded sometime between May 15 and July 27, and the commons will be renovated between May 14 and Aug. 1.

• Rice University Police Department’s dispatch center will be relocated temporarily in another part of the building while a new communications system is installed. This work is scheduled for June 8-Aug. 17.

• In front of Keck Hall, preparations will begin for construction of the plaza and base for the statue of Edgar Odell Lovett that will be unveiled during the Centennial Celebration. This project is scheduled for June 1-Aug. 2.

• The chapel at the Rice Memorial Center (RMC) will be closed for the summer for interior refurbishments. The work should be completed by Aug. 31.

• The main restrooms at the RMC will be renovated sometime during the summer.

• At Fondren Library, Rice’s new Center for Written, Visual and Oral Communication will be installed on the second floor between May 15 and Aug. 6. And the west entrance to the library will be closed June 1-15 and July 19-31 while a canopy made of steel and glass is installed.

• Installation of a new storm sewer line by Huff House will cause some one-lane closures along President’s Road. Dates for this work are pending.

• Several courtyard renovations will take place sometime over the summer. These include Douglass Courtyard by Herring Hall, Jamail Courtyard by the Humanities Building and Brown Courtyard by the RMC.
Founder’s Court Loop will be sealed and coated. Dates for this roadwork are pending.

• At McNair Hall, the retaining wall along the garage entrance will undergo repair during May and June.

• Various buildings and sidewalks will be pressure-washed during the summer.

• Installation of new signage about accessibility is expected to be completed by the end of summer.

Project schedules are contingent upon the weather. For updates and additional projects planned for the summer, visit http://construction.rice.edu.