By Sonny Tapia
Construction around the Long Beach State campus is moving forward with a campus safety initiative to create a safer space for students along with better roads by adding bike lanes, wider sidewalks and new pavement.
According to the Legislative Analyst’s Office, the CSU system was allocated $325 million in deferred maintenance funds between 2021 and 2022. This money is used to fund this deferred maintenance project even though the Legislative Analyst’s Office said that the term maintenance can be broad.
Deferred maintenance projects are maintenance projects that have been put off by the campus to tend to other projects they deemed more important or necessary.
A preservation are located behind the SSPA building is blocked off with fencing as construction crews create a wider sidewalk just along the other side as a part of a campus wide plan. Photo credit: Sonny Tapia
“We will be adding more bike lanes as projects allow because, typically, we add them onto other projects,” said Michael Gardner, architect for Long Beach State.
According to Gardner, the effort to add bike lanes is to reduce emissions and promote a healthier environment around campus. These projects along with others around campus have caused distress among some students as time has gone on with the process.
One of the other projects the school has been working on is in Brotman Hall.
The Brotman Hall courtyard construction project is nearly complete, according to Melissa Soto, manager of the CSULB Capital Program Development Design. The renovation project includes new palm trees along the outer and interior spaces of the courtyard.
“The new palm trees are in and our grounds department is waiting for them to root a little more before the fronds are untied,” Soto said.
Fronds are the leafy part of a palm which must be tied in order to protect the plant when it is rooting or in transit from the nursery.
The CSULB Master Plan shows that multiple buildings will be built on lower campus by the University Student Union and toward Parkside North.
These plans have no set date as of now, but the Master Plan is underway. So far, the campus roads plan has been completed, which repaired cracked roads and created wider sidewalks for bike lanes.
Construction on campus blocks sidewalks, bike lanes and shuttles from accessing parts of campus including the shuttle stop behind the SSPA building on lower campus. Photo credit: Sonny Tapia
Another part of the renovation is the installation of a bench and 82-inch display monitor on the east wall in Brotman Hall.
Since the beginning of construction there have not been any issues other than the paint curing time taking longer than expected due to the rain, Soto said.
The Brotman Hall project is worth $125,000, but the funds for this project are coming from facilities maintenance funds and some Total Return Portfolio funds.
TRP funds are allocated based on certain investments the CSU system makes and how well they do. Some of the investments include renovating certain parts of campus over others or placing money into programs for students.
If an investment does well, meaning it gains profit through student participation or revenue through events, more money is added to the TPR funds.
This then allows the school to decide what projects to send the money toward.
The project as a whole is not going to be finished on time based on what the timeline says on the construction website for CSULB. The Brotman Hall project should have been finished in January 2023, but due to the heavy rains in February and March it has been extended with no expected final date.
The Brotman Hall staircase is draped with banners showing welcoming signs as palm trees line the interior of the courtyard as a part of a plan worth $125,000. Photo credit: Sonny Tapia
Gardner added that some other projects that are being planned include adding bike lanes near the music building near a service access road.
“There’s a beat-up paved road down there where we will be adding some sidewalks and designating some bike routes down there as well,” Gardner said.
This part of the plan focuses on the same idea as the bike lanes around campus, but will not be started until after the spring semester in late May.
