While the new Carmichael Recreation Center renovation will continue for another two years, NC State Wellness and Recreation and NCSU Transportation are working to minimize the impact construction will have on students.
According to Jason Spivey, associate director for Wellness and Recreation, construction for the project began in May and the department is working to help the area of construction function as smoothly as possible.
“The construction crew that we have working on the project has done a great job,” Spivey said. “When they indicate that we’re going to have a road closure, the road closure happens. Again, we’ve worked through a lot of logistics with transportation and others to accommodate move-in weekend and really try to think forward of how we navigate this site as we continue the path.”
Spivey said the Wolfline bus stop and crosswalks next to Carmichael on Morrill Drive have relocated closer to Miller Fields and that building navigation has also changed.
“We had to relocate the bus stop that was just east of the rec center, south a little bit, up by Miller Fields,” Spivey said. “Navigating around the complex and corners is a little more challenging just because there was a main throughway to Talley from Miller Fields and now you either have to go over across the street to softball and up or you can go the longer way around up to the west side of Carmichael. I think that’s going to be the biggest challenge.”
According to Mike Kennon, assistant director for NCSU Transportation, the new transportation efforts were put in place shortly after the construction began in May, which included the removal of parking from parts of Morrill Drive and Cates Avenue.
“This was put in place in June,” Kennon said. “We took all of the parking area and converted it to a pedestrian area because all of the sidewalk is going to be closed.”
Kennon said that the parking and traffic changes are planned to remain the same throughout construction.
“What you see as far as the pedestrian area and this two-way traffic, will remain the same for the rest of the project, which is roughly two years,” Kennon said.
While the Wolfline bus stop and pedestrian crosswalk will return after the project’s completion, some of the removed parking spaces will not.
“Once the project is completed, the bus will be back in its normal spot, [Morrill] parking will open back up,” Kennon said. “[Cates Avenue] parking will not be returning. It was a little problematic because it was at a curve, it was kind of hard for people coming from the eastbound direction to see people starting to back out and so that’s been eliminated for a plaza area.”
Heather Gately, coordinator for Wellness and Recreation member services, said that even though some of the Carmichael parking spaces have been lost, there are still alternative ways for off-campus visitors to reach the gym.
“Parking can be a challenge when it comes to our non-student population,” Gately said. “But we are encouraging people to access Wolfline because we still have a stop that drops you off right at Miller Fields so that’s a wonderful service especially for our Centennial Campus affiliate members who are coming over, they can take the bus that drops them off right here … And we’re still utilizing the Coliseum Deck.”
NCSU Transportation does not expect any congestion during the time of construction. Kennon said one of the biggest changes will be relocation of the bike parking that was previously located next to the old Carmichael building.
“The biggest thing from a transportation standpoint is this was a very heavily used bike parking area, people going to the gym and that was bike parking in between the old and the new building,” Kennon said. “Obviously, that’s gone during construction. We’ve moved some temporary bike parking over here, but it’s still going to be very tight parking spaces with the limited space that we have.”
More information about the construction traffic impacts can be found on NCSU Transportation’s website.
