UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — As students head home for the summer, Penn State’s Office of Physical Plant (OPP) will turn its attention to a wide range of campus construction and renovation projects at University Park.
OPP, along with Penn State Transportation Services and project contractors, will work to minimize disruptions to the campus community wherever possible. OPP updates an interactive construction map identifying construction projects across campus and the Campus Visitor Map also offers capital project construction information.
Parking, paving and roadways
- Road repairs will take place at the Natatorium access drive, Duff Drive, Elm Road, Orchard Road north of Park Avenue, and Services Road between Housing and Foods Services and Hostetter Buildings. Additionally, more than two dozen locations will receive crack seal and seal coating treatments.
- Three parking areas will receive maintenance this summer — White Course parking lots, Warnock Commons (Green N, North Lot) and the Hazmat Building lot (Orange O). An additional 36 locations will receive crack seal and seal coating treatments.
- The HUB Parking Deck will undergo general rehabilitation of concrete and other surfaces, including crack filling, coating, sealings, joint replacement and brick repointing.
- The five-way intersection of Bigler, Hastings and McKean Roads will be realigned after significant underground utility work is conducted at the site. This will cause road closures and detouring in the area during the summer months. The southbound ramp to College Avenue will be temporarily opened to provide access to and egress from Bigler Road.
- The intersection of Curtin and Porter roads will be under construction to replace curb and sidewalk ramps, as well as upgrade of water and storm infrastructure. A portion of Curtin Road between Commuter Drive and Porter Road will be closed. Southbound traffic on Porter Road will remain open, but northbound traffic on Porter Road and eastbound traffic on Curtin Road will be detoured via Dauer and Commuter drives.
Sidewalks
- Two popular visitation sites on campus will undergo construction this summer — the Nittany Lion Shrine and the Pennsylvania State University sign at the intersection of East Park Avenue and Porter Road. Both will undergo sidewalk upgrades. Improved ADA accessibility and additional landscaping will take place at the latter of the two locations.
- Repairs and upgrades will take place on the entrance connecting the Chemistry and Huck Life Sciences buildings.
- In front of Atherton Hall, which houses the Schreyer Honors College, there will be sidewalk upgrades, concrete paving additions to the CATA bus stop along East College Avenue, and utility renewals.
- At East Park Avenue and McKee Alley, near Beam Hall, the sidewalk, curb and water main will be replaced. New lighting also will be added to this location.
Building renovations
- A window replacement project at Schwab Auditorium will cause temporary sidewalk and parking impacts for lifts and scaffold.
- The first floor of the Shields Building will continue being renovated, including various upgrades to its HVAC system.
- The telescopic dome at the observatory atop Davey Lab will be replaced.
- New finishes, ADA upgrades and general renovation work will occur at the Forum Building.
- The Carnegie Building’s ground and second floors will be renovated, and the building’s infrastructure upgraded.
- Phase 6 of the Nittany Apartments renovation will see upgrades to 17 apartments in buildings 51, 52 and 53.
New construction and major renovation
- West Campus will continue its transformation with three projects at various stages of completion. The new six-level, 1,651-space West Deck opened May 10. College of Engineering Research and Teaching Space 2 (West 2), which broke ground during the fall 2020 semester, will continue its construction plans. College of Engineering Research and Teaching Space 1 (West 1), which was recently approved by the Penn State Board of Trustees, will break ground this summer.
- The Penn State Innovation Hub, located on South Burrowes Street, is nearing completion. The new six-level, 100,000-square-foot building for innovation and learning is tentatively scheduled to open this fall.
- On Shortlidge Road, construction will continue on the new Animal, Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences Building and adjacent plaza.
- Efforts will begin this summer to relocate the new Palmer Museum of Art to the Arboretum on Bigler Road, per recent approval by the Penn State Board of Trustees.
- The expansion of the Lasch Football Building recently began and will continue through the summer of 2022. In addition to the expansion, the building also will receive upgraded mechanical and electrical systems.
- The University’s research reactor, the Breazeale Nuclear Reactor, will undergo an addition to accommodate new research equipment.
- Infrastructure at the University’s Water Reclamation Facility will continue to be upgraded, including improvements to the wastewater system.