Just as Ball State University prepares to begin phase two of the McKinley Project, it is being honored with two awards for the design and quality of phase one.
The American Council of Engineering Companies of Indiana awarded Ball State the 2006 Engineering Excellence Merit Award. The project was submitted by the architectural firms Butler, Fairman and Seufert and Rundell Ernstberger Associates, who worked on the project.
The Indiana Department of Transportation also gave the 2006 Indiana Partnership for Highway Quality Achievement Award to the entire team involved with phase one of the McKinley Project, including E&B Paving.
"I'm very pleased," said Jim Lowe, director of engineering and operations for Ball State's Office of Facilities Planning and Management. "We continue to hear positive comments, and it's even more reinforcement that it works. It's still working, and people are recognizing what is has done for the campus."
Phase two of the McKinley Project begins May 8. It covers McKinley Avenue from Bethel Avenue to the intersection of Petty Road and Neely Avenue. The road will be bricked and repaved in the same fashion as phase one, and medians will be inserted, Lowe said.
There will also be a welcoming arch at the entrance to McKinley Avenue at Bethel Avenue and a second pond, he said.
"It sets the stage for you to arrive at the campus," Lowe said. "When you reach Neely and Petty it gives you that transition to campus and then you feel like you have arrived in the heart of campus."
The changes already made to McKinley are working well, said Kevin Kenyon, associate vice president for the Office of Facilities Planning and Management. He said he was excited about the how well flowers have been blooming in the medians as well as how new road functions.
"It just seems to work," Kenyon said. "There's a natural rhythm between the pedestrians and the vehicles, and there's a feeling of protection for the pedestrians when crossing."
The idea is to extend that rhythm down the road and create a peaceful haven for students in the middle of the street, he said. Changes like these are important not only for current students but in attracting new ones, said Deane Rundell, a partner in Rundell Ernstberger Associates.
"I think when parents and new students are looking for a place, when they come here, they will be really impressed with how the campus looks," he said. "If the campus is planned well and taken care of, it carries over to the academic side of the university."
Phase two should be completed by August 12, Lowe said, just in time for students to return to campus for Fall Semester. He said he anticipated a complete transformation of the area that would shock students when they arrive.
"You are going to leave with it in the old condition and come back with it in the new condition, and you will be like 'Wow I have forgotten what the old looked like.'"
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