The Student Health Center is preparing to begin an estimated $281,000 wayfinding and site improvement project to increase safety and accessibility around the facility.
The project will add signage, handrails, benches, bike racks and sidewalks around the Enchanted Forest and Student Health Center. The construction will start in March and is estimated to take about six weeks.
The idea started as a wayfinding project but evolved into a landscape renovation to also improve access and safety, said Julie Hupperich, associate director of the Student Health Center.
Hupperich said the Student Health Center is supported by student fees, and no University funding will be used for the project.
“We have saved up for this,” Hupperich said. “We feel like it’s a priority for students.”
The project will spend about $13,750 on signs. These signs will help navigation to the SHC as well as directing people to handicap entrances, Hupperich said.
The north entrance of the Health Center will undergo sidewalk enhancements, handrail additions and landscaping. The budget allocates $83,250 for the north area.
The sidewalk leading to the Kirby-Smith parking lot is narrow, and students typically walk in the street, Hupperich said. This new walkway will become a popular entrance to campus with all the apartments and businesses in the area.
Natalie Crawford, general studies sophomore, said walking in the area can be scary during heavy traffic times.
A plaza will be built in front of the northeast entrance of the SHC. The plaza is estimated to cost $68,750 and will have lighting, benches, planters and a seating wall.
The SHC currently has one waiting room for all patients, but the northeast plaza lets students who aren’t sick and may not want to be exposed to illnesses wait outside, Hupperich said.
Hupperich said the center is still working out the logistics of outside waiting. One possibility is the use of restaurant-style pagers for calling patients for their appointments.
“It would be nice if there was a different waiting area, but maybe not outside because it’s hot here,” said Celeste D’Arcangelo, marketing senior.
The southeast plaza around the center will undergo about $67,750 in improvements. The sidewalk along Infirmary Road will have $31,500 in modifications, and $15,500 was allocated for the south entrance. The project budget allocated $500 for rounding.
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Contact Celeste Ansley at [email protected]