On Wednesday, Aug. 6, the Department of Enterprise Services will launch a construction project on the West Capitol Campus to repair utility infrastructure beneath Sid Snyder Way. The work will require full closure of Sid Snyder Way, from Capitol Way to Cherry Lane, near the Legislative Building. Construction will extend into November. Campus tenants and visitors may see workers setting up fencing as early as Aug. 4, but street and parking closures will not occur until Aug. 6.

The work will repair substandard electrical ducts, aged water lines, and other deficient utilities. When complete, the project will deliver a newly paved roadway with new sidewalks, landscaping, and drainage systems, and fully functional utility services.

Various disruptions will result from the work effort. Campus users who drive will be displaced from their normal parking stalls, pedestrian walkways will be detoured, and InterCity Transit’s DASH shuttle bus service will be rerouted. In addition, the public can expect construction noise and large vehicles moving through the area. Work will be limited to the hours of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The project includes 16 new street trees to line both sides of Sid Snyder. These trees will help create a formal corridor for the southern entrance to the west campus and the Legislative Building, as outlined in the original Olmsted Brothers campus plan. In addition to these new street trees, other new trees of various species will be planted on west campus.

Four existing trees on the south side of the road will be removed. These trees are:

• A purple-leaf beech
• A red oak
• A red maple
• A London plane tree

The trees are quite large and are not well suited to the constrained space between the street and sidewalk. There is evidence of fungal infestation and it is unlikely that the trees could survive the construction project.

The Sid Snyder project will include state-of-the-art, bio-filtration of stormwater run-off from the street. Special planting areas, which have been designed in concert with the original campus plan from the early 1900s, will clean and filter rain water before it is discharged to Capitol Lake. This area will feature trees and a new shrub and ground cover layer as originally envisioned for the west campus, including many of the species called out by the Olmsteds.

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