Construction season begins early at Fermilab
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Construction projects will cause road closures beginning in April. Photo: Cynthia Horwitz
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If you drive by the Industrial Center Building this week, you’ll see a construction crew excavating a seven-foot deep hole near the Tractricious sculpture.
This work is part of a trio of large-scale infrastructure projects planned for now through the end of summer to upgrade the industrial area of the laboratory. In the short-term the work may cause some headaches because of traffic slowdowns and periodic detours, but in the long term, it will minimize work shutdowns and allow traffic to flow smoother and safer.
“We will be working in the busiest sections of the lab, we just ask for everyone’s patience,” said Chuck Federowicz with FESS engineering.
Below is brief overview of the projects. Watch Fermilab Today for more details.
Industrial cooling water upgrades
In October, crews started working on the water lines used for fire protection and to cool equipment in experimental areas.
Upgraded piping was added in front of the old KTev building, which now houses the SeaQuest experiment and inoperable water valves were replaced and additional ones added in about eight other areas. This will help limit the number of future pipe ruptures and reduce the size of work areas that are affected when repair work is needed. Adding additional valves will allow crews to shut down piping to small areas of the accelerator complex, New Muon Lab and Industrial Area rather than forcing a halt to work in large segments of those areas.
This current construction doesn’t necessitate road closures but may cause traffic delays. Crews will soon complete work in front of ICB. Future work will occur through March by the Meson Test Beam building, next to the Wilson Hall reflecting pond and by Casey’s Pond.
Closures in front of CDF
Starting in April, Road D in front of CDF and the Feynman Computing Center will experience closures for sewer line relocation, the addition of crosswalks, the placement of decorative walking paths around the Tractricious sculpture and a new parking lot at the west end of the CDF building and between the CHL and Industrial Area.
This work will replace existing sewer lines with newer, more reliable lines and relocate them from the south to north side of Road D. This work also will provide parking and road improvements for future upgrades to the area to enhance safety.
This will require closing Road D to non-essential traffic and rerouting traffic to the north.
Road work around Wilson Hall
Starting in late summer, crews will take the bumps out of your morning commute on Road D and improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians by improving the intersection of Pine Street and Road A and repave the roadway from this intersection to the CDF building. This will include realigning the intersection at Road A and Pine Street in front of Wilson Hall to create an eight-foot wide, separated bicycle path through the new intersection.
This will require phased closures of Pine Street and rerouting of traffic near the intersection. The Lederman Center will not be affected. More information will be communicated well in advance of these activities.
-- Tona Kunz
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