Construction affects traffic, dorm life

  The last few cement trucks of the day leave the campus.
The Intramural Field is having a two-story structure built
underneath it to provide an additional 1,500 parking spaces for
UCLA commuters.

By Michaele Turnage
Daily Bruin Senior Staff

Two hundred fifty dump trucks rumble along Charles E. Young
Drive each day due to the construction of a new parking structure
beneath the Intramural Field.

The trucks ““ which come along at a rate of one truck every
three minutes ““ will transport dirt from the IM field
from 6 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day for the next three-and-a-half to
four months, said Tom LaVanne, director of construction management
for UCLA’s Capital Programs Office.

While the route has left many students and Westwood homeowners
upset, Bel-Air homeowners are pleased the trucks aren’t going
through their neighborhood.

“It’s an inconvenience for us … these trucks are
making noise and when they come out it’s really dusty,”
said Alicia Parise, a second-year Latin American studies student
who got dust in her eye during her walk from the dorms to class on
Young Drive North.

Some Westwood residents have said that the constant construction
shows a lack of concern for the environment on the
university’s part.

“Those big trucks ruin the streets and just mess up the
whole community,” said Alvin Milder, vice president of the
Westwood Hills Homeowners Association and president of UCLA Watch,
a coalition of neighboring homeowners associations.

Bel-Air homeowners have said they were pleased with the
university’s decision against having the trucks travel down
Sunset Boulevard. In the spring, the Bel-Air Association and other
homeowners met with university officials and voiced their
grievances about a possible Sunset route.

“We did not want the trucks going on Sunset,” said
Elaine Gerdeau, president of the Bel-Air Association, adding that
the university subsequently decided the trucks would take another
route.

University officials said they considered other factors in their
decision not to use Sunset Boulevard.

Administrative Vice Chancellor Pete Blackman said of the route
chosen, “That was the most effective, least destructive
route,”

The project, which started in early September, will run through
August 2003, according to UCLA Transportation and Parking
Services.

The two-story parking structure, which will provide 1,500 spaces
and cost $47.5 million, was delayed since April 2000 because of
considerations for other projects. The hospital will fund $11
million for the new structure.

Parking fees were raised in July to offset the cost of the new
structure, which is being built to compensate for the 1,450 spaces
lost when Lot 14 was destroyed for the new hospital, said Mark
Stocki, director of Parking and Transportation Services. An
additional raise in parking fees to cover costs is expected, Stocki
said.

So far, the project has yielded various student complaints about
the noise, smell, added traffic and safety.

Students have said a road with less pedestrian traffic ““
like Sunset Boulevard ““ should have been chosen, but the
Bel-Air Association disagrees.

“Someone or other is going to have trucks go by ““ I
think it’s better that it’s on university
property,” Gerdeau said.

No measures are being taken to compensate students for the added
inconveniences, but the university is still primarily concerned
with the safety of students and all other residents, LaVanne said.
Traffic control officers have been hired to hold up signs signaling
traffic, he said.

Some students said they have seldom encountered traffic control
officers, and that trucks sometimes run stop signs. Others said
their usual walk or drive to school is taking longer due to the
increased traffic.

“Your whole timing is off as to when you’ll get to
your destination because of the slower traffic,” said Jessica
Lopez, a third-year history student who commutes to school.

LaVanne said there shouldn’t be any long waits.

Another safety concern was raised when the speed bumps on Young
Drive were removed so trucks traveling over them would not spill
dirt.

In addition, the front desk of Dykstra and De Neve Residence
Halls has received multiple complaints that students were woken up
by the noise.

Students are also concerned about a manure-like smell near the
construction site.

“It’s usually pretty nasty. When you’re
walking you have to cover your nose from the smell,” said
Pamela Sit, a second-year biology student.

Capital Programs officials said they weren’t aware of the
complaints.

“We will go and investigate whether or not there are other
measures that need to be taken to mitigate the impacts on student
pedestrians,” LaVanne said.

According to Jeremy McKenzie, facilities commissioner for the
Undergraduate Students Association Council, no one has contacted
his office seeking student input.

“I’ll do my best to work with the university and try
to lessen the amount of inconvenience that the projects
have,” McKenzie said.

Many students said changing the truck route would be the best
solution to the problems.

“I guess its because we’re used to there being
construction around that it doesn’t seem that bad ““
there’s always construction,” Sit said.

With reports from Kevin Lee, Daily Bruin Contributor.