Construction Zone
Utah State University’s students will notice USU is experiencing a major facelift. Two large trenches have been cut through the campus which will eventually hold steam tunnels. One trench runs south from the new heating plant site north of the Spectrum to the Geology buliding. The other runs east from the main line to the Fine Arts building.
Each trench is surrounded by piles of rebar and construction equipment. Crews have been working along and inside the trenches since March.
“It’s a pretty big project,” Brian Anderson said. “We’re changing plant locations.”
The old coal-fired plant is running at around 60 per cent efficiency, Anderson said.
The new plant will be fed primarily by natural gas and will be online this winter.
Construction started in March on the two simultaneous projects, building the heating plant and the steam tunnels.
Since students left school for the summer the crews have worked to stay on schedule, Anderson said.
“They’ve been going after it hard,” he said.
To some students, the construction may make little sense.
“It seems kind of chaotic,” said Trisha King, a junior majoring in Graphic Design. “I’d like to know more about it.”
After only another 30 days, the crews will begin to hardscape or start laying sidewalks over the trenchwork area, Anderson said. However, landscaping probably will not begin until spring. Logan has been experiencing a low water year, and a slowly diminishing Logan River. Therefore, the dilemma was to either try and preserve the existing landscape or nurture a newer fragile landscape.
Anderson said the chosen option is to wait until spring and the new rainfall which will allow workers to bring back a good landscape.
People desiring to learn about the construction may access a web site which has a live web cam and detailed descriptions of the projects. The web site can be found at www.fac.usu.edu.