The following email was sent to effective constituents on April 16, 2019:

Dear colleagues: 

We are reaching out to those who may be impacted by the upcoming construction work related to the new bridge across Franklin Boulevard. As has been discussed in a number of venues both in person and in writing, our expectation is that the new bridge will be erected in full (although not passable) by August 30th, 2019 if not earlier. The bridge will be open for pedestrians in late spring 2020 when the building opens. 

In our discussions with the City and LTD on how to plan for this major piece of engineering, it was agreed that we must begin work in early May to meet our August completion deadline. There will be noise and vibration challenges for periods during the construction that may impact your work and research activities. We are endeavoring to keep these periods as short as possible and to provide you with as much information and with as much lead-time as possible. There are a number of external factors, including permitting negotiations and weather, that make it impossible for us to have exact dates today for each future event but we will do our very best to get things nailed down as early as we possibly can. We recognize and appreciate that noise and vibration can have costly effects to research activity particularly if there is no time to plan. 

April 29: We will erect barriers on Franklin Boulevard changing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. There will be Around the O articles, website information and direct emails sent with details specific to impacts on modes of transportation throughout the construction period. 

May 7th or 8th: We expect one day of work when an excavator will tear up the sidewalk in front of the mid-east portion of LISB on Franklin Boulevard where the bridge will attach to the building. The major consequence of this activity will be noise. 

May 13-16: We expect two to three days of drilling and construction to set the piers about 30 feet into the ground on both sides of Franklin Boulevard. There will be noise and vibration related to this activity continuously during the days of the work. 

May 17-21: We expect two to three days of reduced vibration as we excavate around the top of the piers for the installation of crushed rock and compaction of that crushed rock for the installation of the pile cap that will connect the piers and generate the base for the bridge. 

June 11-12: We expect one to two days of some vibration similar to that in late May. This will be associated with compaction around the pile cap for the preparation of final grades necessary to backfill for the replacement of sidewalks. 

June 24-28: We expect one to two days of that week to be devoted to taking the brick off the face of LISB where the bridge will connect. There will be noise and some vibration felt inside the building in areas adjacent to the work. 

For this construction project, your contacts to ask questions and raise concerns are:

Darin Dehle
Project Manager 
Director Capital Planning
ddehle@uoregon.edu 

Moira Kiltie 
Chief of Staff 
Knight Campus 
kiltie@uoregon.edu 

We will continue to use the Knight Campus website and Around the O to provide updates and new information.