Year-round construction on campus has become the "norm" to Auburn students, with the majority of it occurring during the summer months.
According to a map released by the University's Facilities Management division, Auburn will be working on 86 projects during the 2012 summer semester, some of which will remain through the fall.
Ron Booth, director of program management and project execution for facilities management, said the four biggest projects being undertaken are the construction of the South Donahue Residence Hall, Parking Facility and the Recreation & Wellness Center and Small Animal Teaching Hospital.
Booth said all of the projects currently underway are on budget and have not experienced any problems or delays.
Many of the projects are large endeavors that require road closings or sectioning off certain parts of campus, making summer an opportune time to complete them without inconveniencing students and faculty.
"We try to plan ahead for things like road closings, so as not to disrupt the lives of students and faculty," Booth said. "However, it's simply necessary in order to replace or install underground water pipes, gas lines or other utilities, which some of these projects require."
Some of the road closings include the portion of West Samford Avenue that connects to Duncan Drive for two months, the closure of The Hill parking lots later in the summer and the continued closure of the Athletic Complex Service Drive.
Booth said the budget for all summer projects (including ones continuing into fall) is $614 million.
The ongoing construction has also been affecting on-campus workers and students in different ways.
Riley Gilchrist, junior in electrical engineering, said the construction looks unsightly, but is otherwise only a minor inconvenience to students.
"It would be nice to finally have a semester at Auburn where there is no construction going on, but I understand that they're taking advantage of the times when less students are on campus," Gilchrist said.
Cody Jinnette, freshman in biomedical sciences who makes deliveries for the Harrison School of Pharmacy, thinks differently about the construction because he's an on-campus worker.
"It makes my job harder because with all the construction going on, a lot of faculty offices get moved," Jinette said. "That makes it difficult to find people, not to mention the road closures sometimes make me drive out of the way of where I'm supposed to be going."
However, Jinnette echoes the excitement of many students here in Auburn and elsewhere for the summer.
"I'm really excited about the new rec center, not to mention the parking garages they're building. After everything is finished, I think it's going to be really nice," Jinnette said.
The construction is not immediately limited to Auburn as well.
One of the projects is the construction of a Wellness Center at Auburn's Montgomery campus, along with constructing a radio tower and installing two security gates at the AU Regional Airport.
A PDF map of all the summer construction projects is available on the Facilities Management website under "Projects."
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