Phase I of Podium Renovation Expected to Begin This Month

June 05, 2015

The elevated walkway that connects several buildings on the SUNY Plattsburgh campus will be undergoing extensive repairs that include a snow-melt system, green spaces and improved safety features.

According to Rick Larche, capital project manager, work on the walkway, also known as the podium, will begin at the end of June and include two phases. Phase I will begin at parking lot No. 8, the off-campus student lot on Draper Avenue, and cover the portions of the podium at Feinberg Library near the Rockwell Kent Gallery, Yokum Lecture Hall and Beaumont Hall.

The approaches on both sides of the Broad Street bridge will also be repaired during this phase. Access to the bridge from Hudson Hall and Beaumont will be closed during the renovation.

“Improvements to the podium include removing the existing pavers down to the structural slab,” Larche said. New membranes, drainage and stamped walking surfaces will be installed. “The structure will be reinforced with steel imbedded in the concrete. We’ll also install a new radiant heat snow-melt system that will help with snow removal.”

Currently, heavy equipment and road salt are used on the podium to aid in snow and ice removal. Larche said the new system will mitigate the need for such equipment and concrete-damaging chlorides in the future.

New green spaces will be installed along the railings to produce what Larche likened to “roof-top gardens.” The underside of the podium will be repaired where drainage damaged the concrete.

Phase II will include portions of the walkway that lead from Kehoe to Yokum, Feinberg and the Angell College Center. That phase could start as early as summer 2016.

According to Larche, the cost of the project is just over $12 million with the first phase costing roughly $3.5 million-$5 million and is funded through the State University Construction Fund.