Cascade construction begins

The Cascade Project construction is anticipated to start Wednesday, April 4. All construction work is planned to get done this fall, said Director of Facilities Mike Stifter.

Construction will start on Spruce Street and Second Street, Stifter said. Construction will move from west to east on Cascade Avenue.

Fencing will be put up first and starting the April 9, will be the removal of asphalt and trees, that will be a two-week process, according to Stifter.

“If things go well, we could be wrapping up mid-fall, the biggest thing to work on for next week is pedestrian walk ways,” Stifter said.

Stifter said Fourth and Sixth Street would be ideal places for pedestrians. During construction, every other block will have crossing areas.

Vehicles owners will have access to all campus parking lots and dorms during the time of construction. Although, only residential traffic will be allowed on certain spots of Cascade Avenue when houses are unavailable to get to in other ways, Stifter said.

“There shouldn’t be any problems, nothing we anticipate. Q lot is open all semester,” Stifter said.

Stifter said that everything on campus should be available all the time and all student lots will be free in the summer. For the rest of spring semester, there is $5 per week parking permits available.

Operations program associate from the Police Department and parking on campus Wendy Penny said that at this particular time, a concern would be peoples’ knowledge of how to get around.

“I stress that there is a website just for the Cascade project and that will be updated daily so any changes that take place will be announced there. It’s a central place for the city to communicate with us and the campus to communicate with the community,” Penny said.

Routes and ways of access to all campus buildings are shown on the UWRF website. As well as a more detailed schedule of construction. Mid-April will be the start of initial utilities projects such as electrical and water. These projects will be worked on while students are here and safe pedestrian walkways will be the most important, Stifter said.

Penny said that approximately 100 parking spots will be lost this school year but at the end of construction spots will break even.

“The current metered lot will be completely reconstructed and additional spaces will be there, the city will be vacating Third Street and the lot will then extend almost to the flag pole currently in front of North Hall and will be completely redesigned,” Penny said.

Junior Holly Davidson drives to campus and talks about the inconvenience of losing spots on Cascade Avenue. “It’s frustrating since there’s already limited parking on Cascade, so any use of parking spaces due to construction offers a big inconvenience to commuters,” Davidson said.

The Cascade Project has been in the works since 2007 and had it’s last public meeting before the start of construction on Thursday, March 22 which brought about 25 people, Stifter said.