Four attendees listen as ILC plans outlined

Jennifer Etsitty Arizona Daily Wildcat Melissa Dryden, a program coordinator for UA Facilities Design and Construction, held an informational meeting about the UA Mall Enhancement Project to an audience of four people at the Student Union yesterday.

An audience of four, including an Associated Students Spring Fling representative and a "concerned community member" looked on yesterday as a university construction official explained plans for the Mall Enhancement Project.

The project includes work on McKale Center, the Main Library and the Memorial Student Union, as well as construction of the Integrated Learning Center beneath the UA Mall.

Officials in charge, including Melissa Dryden, a program coordinator for UA Facilities Design and Construction, fielded questions about the project, including its impact on the university's neighbors.

Dryden said the UA intends to have moving trucks haul 100,000 cubic yards of dirt off the Mall 24 hours a day beginning in early 1999, when construction begins on the ILC, a $20.25 million facility designed to be a focal point for freshman-year services.

Jason Kalan, assistant director of operations for ASUA's annual Spring Fling carnival, asked Dryden about how campus-area communities were reacting to news of the disruption.

"What has the Sam Hughes neighborhood said about 24 hours of dirt trucks moving through their neighborhood?" he asked.

Dryden said if truck drivers work exclusively during the day, it will take 12 weeks to complete the project's dirt-hauling phase, but the time could be cut in half if they work throughout the night.

"We met with them (the neighbors) and realize that there will be an impact," Dryden said. "That will be the most disruptive part."

The Tucson community member, who refused to identify himself, questioned Dryden about the possibility of overcrowded walkways as the construction site spreads.

"You're going to have some real foot-traffic bottlenecks," he said.

To explain the layout, Dryden showed audience members a video that included comments from UA President Peter Likins and a computer-animated tour through the ILC building.

"The whole thing integrates in a very exciting way," Likins said in the video. "It's the centerpiece of the Mall Enhancement Project."

Dryden also gave an overview of future phases.

North Cherry Avenue will remain closed at East University Boulevard through Jan. 1, she said.

The Main Library renovation project is scheduled to begin in early 2000, Dryden said. The plan is to add 300,000 square feet to the building's fifth floor.

Dryden also said the Strength and Conditioning Facility and Heritage Hall projects on the north side of McKale Center should start in late 1999 and extend through 2001. The proposal will add several weight rooms and a display room for department awards.

The Memorial Student Union and UA Associated Students Bookstore renovation project is up in the air, Dryden said.

"We don't have definite answers or a schedule," she said. "This has been quite a hot topic."

David J. Cieslak can be reached via e-mail at David.J.Cieslak@wildcat.arizona.edu.