Austen Hunzeker
Staff Writer
As students and staff are aware, construction could be seen all over campus during the duration of the 2024 fall semester. From parking lots, sidewalks, pool renovations, and more, some students could even hear drilling during class.
But some may wonder, what is it all even for?
Here is a round-up of the construction that took place during the fall semester and what the ISU community should be aware of going into the 2025 spring semester:
According to the current ISU Campus Construction Map, 15 construction projects have been and are taking place on campus this semester in various different locations.
“We have had an unprecedented amount of projects going on over the past couple of years due to the influx of deferred maintenance funding provided by the State of Idaho,” Chris Wagner, director of facilities operations at ISU, said.
Projects related to tunnels and sidewalks north of the quad were slated to run from June through October. There are seven different locations where this took place, including the “sidewalk in front of the administration building leading west to the liberal arts building and north to the physical science building, [the] small parking lot on the north side of the administration building [and the] entire south side of the physical science building,” according to a statement made by ISU in June.
The relocation of Gravely Hall’s testing center is also in the works, slated to be finished in January of 2025 in order to “expand testing capacity for academic, professional, and licensure testing services,” according to the map.
Bartz Way is in phase one of its paving construction, which started on Oct. 14. Information on phase two has not been released yet.
The West Campus Apartments were demolished in June of this year. Plans for what that new space will be used for have not yet been released to the public.
The GO1 lot construction, as many students have noticed, has been under construction since March of this year, with the time of completion slated to be sometime in the fall. The project has seemingly come to a near finish in the last few weeks as new grass has been placed and fewer construction crews have been seen.
The renovation of Leonard Hall began in the spring of 2023. The project is slated to be finished sometime in 2025.
Beginning in March of this year, portions of the parking lot, sidewalk, and tennis courts at Reeds Gym were closed due to construction on the pool. The pool was initially slated to open in December of this year but reopened early on Nov. 20 in a grand re-opening.
More information regarding this construction season the ISU community has experienced can be found on the ISU Facilities Services website at https://www.isu.edu/facilities/.
While some projects are still ongoing, there may be an end in sight.
