Sidewalk project to include bike lane

BY MELODY TABOR

For some students, walking from Vista Place Apartments to Tech has been a necessary and dangerous struggle.

The plan to put sidewalks along O Street on State Highway 124 has been updated to include bike lanes as well as sidewalks.

Public Works Director and City Engineer Kurt Jones, said the design for the plan has not yet been finalized, but the street will be redone to include these changes. The plan is currently estimated to cost the city $2.4 million, Jones said.

“This has shifted from a sidewalk project to a complete street project, and I think that’s an ideal location for a complete street project,” Jones said.“It’s a gateway to Tech and to the city, and I’m excited about it.”

The project will take anywhere from nine to 12 months to finish and is tentatively scheduled to begin in late summer or early fall, Jones said. The sidewalks will be 6-feet wide and made of concrete, Jones said.

Jones said one of the bigger challenges will be reworking the intersection by Parker Road. The hill will receive several grade changes, and the utility work adjacent to O Street will also be a challenge, Jones said.

Some residents have expressed concern about how close the sidewalks will be to their homes, but following the latest proposal, Jones said all residents he has spoken to are satisfied.

Construction continues on Brown Hall

BY MALLORY PLESS

LAURA BEAN/THE ARKA TECH: Construction crews continue work on Brown Hall.

Arkansas Tech’s newest building, Brown Hall, is expected to be finished by February 2016.

The building is being constructed next to Rothwell and will house 11 departments including Admissions, Financial Aid, Student Accounts, Registrar’s Office, Upward Bound, Student Support Services, Veterans Services, Budget, Payroll and Human Resources. The building will also have 10 classrooms.

Gaylen Rounsaville, Tech’s construction manager, said since the majority of the departments being put in Brown-Hall are currently being housed in Doc Bryan, one of the next projects will be to renovate Doc Bryan.

The construction team’s current plan for Doc Bryan is for it to become more on-campus housing to help accommodate for the rising number of enrolled students.

Rounsaville said, “When Rothwell was built, the main goal was to provide the most technologically advanced building on campus. Which we did. But now our goal with the new building is to provide an even more technologically advanced atmosphere for students and administration.”

According to Rounsaville, the technology budget for Brown-Hall is pushing $1 million out of an estimated $16 million budget.
The construction team is thought to be two to three weeks behind. The building itself is expected to be finished by August 2015, and the entire project is expected to be completed by February 2016.

It will be named Dr. Robert Charles Brown and Jill Lestage Brown Hall after the former president of the university and his wife. It will be called Brown-Hall for short.

Rounsaville said, “Our next goal is to just work on renovating the buildings that Tech already has and working to make enough space for the growing population of the school.

“It’ll take some time, but we’re excited to see how much Tech has grown and changed.”