The north section of the east parking lot had to undergo construction over the spring break to get a head start before the May 1 to June 16 project deadline for an upcoming even larger project on campus.

“The project scope is going to take longer to complete than expected so Sound Transit (Kiewit the General Contractor) approached us and asked for an earlier than expected start time in order to try and have this overall project completed by the start of fall quarter,” said Director of Facilities Department Barry Holldorf. 

One aspect of the construction in the north end is digging out a hole to re-route the watering system and drain out the water through the storm pipes from the parking lot. The goal is to have it be done before the water makes it into the pond that is located past Highline’s tennis courts on campus. 

Over spring break there was approximately 150 feet of stormwater down on the north road that needed to be drained out and vegetation needed to be removed as well. 

College Way and the east parking lot will be closed for the bigger project that will be starting on May 1. That project will occur through summer break and lead into September. The entrance to campus will be closed off but there is a possibility that the north parking lot entrance will remain open during the summer quarter.

The east parking lot entrance was the other half of what was done over the summer of last year, and it is connected to the train station that is currently being built on the other side of the street. Sound transit construction workers will be the ones finishing up this ongoing project.

This project will be the new main entrance to campus and it will benefit staff and students because it will have a stop light at the entrance to control incoming traffic.

“It won’t change much of the way you enter campus, it will still be a right-turn only, but that will be the last thing they add and should be finished within the third week of September, meeting the contract deadline,” said Holldorf. 

The big reason this project is being conducted is to have more control of traffic flow that enters and exits the campus from Highway 99, and to make the parking lots look clean.