TII update

By Sydney Jackson
Information Technology Services

Work in the project’s pilot building, Family Food Science (FFS) is back on schedule after abatement work for asbestos containing materials (ACM) in the ceiling of the first floor was done. Work to install new cable in FFS has resumed, and completion of interior cabling is anticipated within the next few weeks.

As mentioned in last month’s Journal, the construction work, safety procedures and wiring techniques done in FFS are being evaluated and held to a high standard that will become the template for the work to be done in the other buildings on campus.  

We are learning from this pilot building experience that all of the older buildings of the FFS genre will potentially have asbestos issues that may require special handling.   This will depend upon the pathways available for the cabling and creative techniques for installing cable.

Investigative work has identified ACM in the next group of buildings (Speech Arts, Old Music, Conley Arts and Joyal).   Not disturbing ACM and thereby minimizing abatement will be a major challenge for the TII Project as work progresses through these buildings.   Abatement when necessary will hopefully require only partial closure.   As long as the existing air system in the building will permit sealing off sections of the building, the partial closure technique will be used. This was not the case in FFS. The air handling system in FFS prevented partial closure of the building and forced a complete evacuation.

Despite bad weather in December and January and working around some special events, the outside plant work is on schedule. Twenty-seven telecommunication vaults were installed in the ground, and approximately 5,000 feet of trenching was dug between vaults, conduit laid in the trenches and the trenches closed. The vault installation and trenching work are approximately 40 percent complete.

The construction path during this period was along Barstow Avenue between Woodrow and Bulldog Stadium, then south along Campus Drive to the Library, and then east to Parking Lot D.   New trenching is beginning along the east side of Bulldog Stadium between Barstow and Bulldog Lane. In mid-March, boring under Cedar Avenue at Barstow will begin and trenching along Maple from Keats to the Joyal Administration building will begin.

For more information see the TII Web site at http://tii.csufresno.edu/group/.