The two-year-old, $9.4 million steam tunnel project, designed to update an antiquated steam pipe system, recently reached its northward conclusion at Elm Street, and is now in its final stages, Buildings and Grounds Assistant Director John Gratiot said.
"The above work ground of the project is virtually done," Gratiot said, and only beneath ground pipe installation, insulation and wiring remain. The construction is slated for completion by September 15, he said.
Construction has also recently sprung up in front of Baker Library, where workers are continuing the duct bank project started last summer. This project will "upgrade the high-voltage power distribution system and provide new conduits for telephone services," Gratiot said.
According to Buildings and Grounds Utilities Director Steve Mischissin, the duct bank work will move across Main Street in July, ending up at its final destination, Massachusetts Row, in August.
Once the project ventures toward the housing cluster, "some disturbance, noise and some inconvenience" will occur, Gratiot said. "We will try to minimize the noise in the early morning, but in order to get the project done, we have to do the work."
The work will renovate worn down systems, accommodate increased electrical demands of the future Collis Center and enable communications links to future College sites north of Baker Library, he said.
This endeavor, which "happens to coincide" with the steam tunnel project, is heading westward and eastward of Baker Library in order to connect existing conduits between Mass Row and Richardson Hall, Gratiot said.
