By Michelle Roberts
Arizona Daily Wildcat
The three-foot wall which now proclaims "University of Arizona" at the corner of Speedway Boulevard and Campbell Avenue is just the beginning.
The university hopes to build six more walls at locations around campus to delineate the edges to visitors, said senior architect Eric Scharf of Facilities, Design and Construction.
The boundary wall, which went up about three weeks ago, cost $6,000 to build.
The university also had to pay $13,600 in easement-associated costs about three years ago. The costs were primarily associated with the block wall that edges the Taco Bell Restaurant property, Scharf said.
The easement cost was the university's share based on an agreement reached between the land owner, Taco Bell and the university, Scharf said.
Mark Novak, the landscape architect that designed the 20-foot-long wall, said the boundary signs are being developed as seams at the edge of campus.
The signs will alert people that they are entering the campus district, he said, which is why the sign was placed on a major arterial street.
"We wanted to give people a stronger sense when they are arriving at the university," Novak said.
It is not known when the other signs will be built, because funding is not available, said associate budget officer Charles Ingram.
The nearly $20,000 that paid for the sign at Speedway and Campbell came from local administrative funds, Scharf said.
These funds are generated through building-use charges associated with other construction projects and are given to a committee that will redistribute them.