Students on UMKC’s Volker Campus have been navigating daily detours around the Quad for the past three months due to major construction.
Where major walkways once trafficked students, six-foot-tall fencing now blocks off the Quad from most sides. It prohibits students from accessing major entrances to Haag Hall and Flarsheim Hall.
Construction Foreman Matt Koch said they are replacing the steam pipes under the Quad aft
er the main line on 51st Street went bad. Their purpose is to provide heat to the surrounding buildings.
“We are due to turn on the steam line on Wednesday the 29th, but the site restoration will take a while,” he said. “Phase two will be starting next week, but the weather will determine when we do the lawn and sidewalks.”
Koch could not give a time estimate for when the fencing will be removed, but they are trying to work with as little disruptions to students as possible.
The school administration warned students in October of last year of the steampipe-system replacement project. They said it was scheduled to be finished before the campus reopened in 2025.
Despite sending reminders about the Foodiverse and Miller Nichols Library Renovations, the administration never released information about the steampipe replacement construction progress. The lack of clear updates has fueled confusion and frustration among students.
Freshmen Lizbeth Carrera and Kimberly Ortiz both did not know what was happening in the Quad.
“I haven’t really minded it until now because I’ve been able to find my way around, but it obviously does get in the way when I’m going from the biology building across the street to the parking lot,” said Carrera.
Ortiz said cutting around the construction has made her late to her classes several times.
“It’s just been going on for a long time, I would think it would be done by now,” said sophomore business management major Samantha Molina. “Just seeing it I’m like, dang it’s still here?”
