During the late spring and summer months, while many students were on break, NC State’s campus underwent various physical changes. Technician has compiled a list of a few changes that have occurred, from new facilities to updated Wolfline buses and other infrastructure changes. 

Facilities changes

Doug Morton, Associate Vice Chancellor of the Facilities Division, discussed a few of the changes that have happened to facilities on campus over the summer, as well as what is to come in the fall semester.

According Morton, the Facilities Division is responsible for all physical infrastructure on campus.

“In a nutshell, there’s about 900 employees, and we build and we maintain the physical environment for the campus to make NC State better,” Morton said.

Beyond the completion of the Holy Name of Jesus Cathedral on Centennial Campus, Morton also discussed renovations on North Campus.

“If you live in Owen Hall, the dorm was renovated and in Winston Hall on the first floor, we redid all of the air conditioning systems,” Morton said.

Morton spoke about a new entranceway constructed between D.H. Hill Library and Scott Hall.

“Next to D.H. Hill library between D.H. Hill and Scott Hall, there is a new entrance way that was not accessible before,” Morton said. “Just about the time the semester was ending up we changed the pathway coming directly beside the library and made a much broader pathway and […] before if you had accessibility issues, you couldn’t get there unless you went all the way down to Nelson and backed in through Scott Court. Now you can come right in through the buses on Hillsborough Street.” 

Morton mentioned that students can look forward to the grand reopening of the Gregg Museum, an art museum located on Hillsborough Street, which will occur on Saturday, Aug. 26.

“The Gregg Museum has been underway for some time and we finished it up just about the time the school year was ending,” Morton said. “The following Saturday after Packapalooza is the grand opening for the museum. What used to be the Chancellor’s residence, we renovated that […] and it will be the art gallery and really the focus of Arts NC State.”

In the coming months and years, students can also expect renovations to Case Dining Hall, Primrose Hall and Greek Village. Morton also discussed student input for renovations to Carmichael Gymnasium, which will take place in the coming years. 

“Carmichael Gym is a student project,” Morton said. “It’s student-funded and student-participated.”

Morton hopes that students will be involved in the renovation process, and encourages students to attend meetings to discuss renovations.

“The staff in facilities extends their days so that the building committee is accessible to the students so instead of having [the meetings] at 10:30 on a Tuesday, we have it at 5 o’clock,” Morton said. “That’s done with the sole purpose of making sure students can be done with classes for the day and come in and participate. Again, these students are financing the building. It’s a student fee that was voted upon to build this. I’ve seen the way it’s coming together and it’s going to be Talley plus.”

Wolfline changes 

In the spring, Technician reported that there will be new Wolfline buses this semester, and they have already been unveiled and are now in service. 

At the time, Technician spoke with Assistant Director for Planning and Operations for NCSU Transportation, Mike Kennon, to discuss the change.

“The fleet that we’ve got now is anywhere from six years to 10 plus years old, typically transit vehicles are replaced at 12 years,” Kennon said in May. “A good portion of the fleet was nearing the end of its age, so we required the new contractor to bring new buses. The University actually doesn’t own those vehicles, a contractor does.”

Byron Bryant, transit manager for NCSU Transportation, discussed what students can expect from the new buses. 

“The service capacity will actually increase by 8 to 10 percent, and that’s based on the fact that our current mixed fleet has shorter, smaller buses in it, and this will include all 40-foot standardized size buses,” Bryant said in May. “All the buses will be outfitted with an automated bus announcement system, letting everyone know which stop is coming up next, or the current stop and that sort of thing that you see in other transit systems.”