July 12, 2010

Project requires partial road, parking lot closures

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- A heating and air conditioning project at a Southern Illinois University Carbondale residence hall will require partial closures of a parking lot and roadway later this week.

Southern Illinois Piping Contractors of Carbondale is replacing two of the four air handlers atop the Schneider Hall roof with more energy efficient, upgraded handlers. Due to the size and logistics involved in the $385,000 project, a helicopter will be in use to replace the heating/air conditioning units on Thursday, July 15, according to Leo Driscoll of Plant and Service Operations’ construction management office.

The chopper will make two trips from the rooftop to a nearby parking lot to remove the old units from the roof. There will be four trips from Lot 45, located on Grand Avenue, to the roof to lift the new units and related electrical and ductwork materials high onto the roof of the residence hall.

The eastern third of Lot 45 will close from about 11 p.m. on Wednesday, July 14, until mid-day on July 15. That portion of the lot is at the corner of East Grand Avenue and Wall Street, across from the Student Health Center and the Wall and Grand Apartments. Barricades and caution tape will mark the closed area of the parking lot. In addition, the work will result in closure of East Park Street between Logan Drive and near the Mae Smith residence hall from about 11 p.m. July 14 until about 11 a.m. on July 15.

Weather permitting, the helicopter lift portion of the project should be complete by 11 a.m. that day, but that is contingent upon atmospheric conditions in St. Louis, where the helicopter is coming from, as well as conditions in Carbondale, Driscoll said. Bad weather will postpone the air handler rooftop work.