07/03/12 ks
HAYS, Kan. -- Four major construction projects have been in
various stages of development this summer at Fort Hays State University. The
first -- an extension of Dwight Drive -- reached official completion today, and
it signifies not only a new physical path through the campus but a link from the
past to the future.
Dwight Drive previously began at Elm Street and dead-ended
on the west at the Wooster Place housing complex. Now it continues to curve
northwest around the levee along Big Creek and connects with Gustad Drive, the
road that goes from the main campus to Gross Memorial Coliseum.
"The extension of Dwight Drive creates much more
convenient travel through campus," Dr. Edward H. Hammond, FHSU president,
said during an official opening ceremony today on the new road. "But it
also does two other things. It marks the completion of our old master plan and
the transition to a new plan for the future. And, the extension of Dwight Drive
will provide access to a new academic building, the Center for Networked
Learning."
He said the total
project cost for the road, which was built by Apac-Kansas Inc. of Hays, was
about $500,000, which included $420,000 for construction, $50,000 for design
and some miscellaneous costs.
"This new road
has been part of the master plan since 1969," the president said.
"Gustad Drive did not even exist at that time. One version of the master
plan had Dwight Drive continuing north, past Stroup Hall and my house, all the
way to North Campus Drive. Another version of the master plan had it turning east
just past my house and terminating at the Memorial Union."
FHSU has hired the
Kansas City, Mo., office of Gould Evans Affiliates to develop a new master
plan. "We are still defining the scope of their services," he said.
"They will begin inspecting the campus and gathering information. They
will meet with various constituent groups on campus and in the community. That
will take months. The new master plan is due a year from now and must finally
be approved by the Kansas Board of Regents."
When completed, he
said, the transition from the old master plan to the new master plan will
provide guidance on such future considerations as the need for new buildings
and parking lots, the possible removal of old buildings, and land use of areas
such as the alfalfa field west of the Robbins Center.
President Hammond
also gave a status report on the Center for Networked Learning, which has been
announced previously. "That project is approaching the design development
phase, and we hope to have plans ready for bid letting by this December,"
he said. "The building will be about 37,150 square feet, including 1,400 square
feet of 'shell space' for future growth, and the construction cost will be
about $11.2 million."
It will house the
Virtual College, the Center for Teaching Excellence and Learning Technology,
the Department of Informatics, the radio and TV studios, and laboratories for
the new information systems engineering program.
The projected completion
date of the Center for Networked Learning is summer of 2014, in time for the start
of the 2014-2015 academic year.
The road and the new academic building are two of four
projects that represent a total university investment of about $30 million,
with an estimated economic impact of about $45 million. A groundbreaking
ceremony was conducted on June 19 for the Schmidt/Bickle Indoor Training
Facility, scheduled to open in a year, and the first phase of the Tiger Place
residential facility on the site of the former Agnew Hall will open soon, with
the second phase also scheduled for completion next summer.
"While the
nation has struggled, we have enjoyed three years busier than we've ever been,"
President Hammond said. "We've been blessed to be very busy in a tough
economy."