Construction on campus nears completion

With the opening of the E. Claiborne Robins Stadium around the corner, construction workers have been moving quickly toward finishing up new roadways and Queally Hall, the 37,000-square-foot addition to the Robins School of Business.

Queally Hall is approximately 78 percent complete, said University of Richmond architect Andrew McBride, and it is scheduled to open in the Spring 2011 semester. The new building will include an additional cafe on campus, a capital markets trading room, a student lounge and multi-use conference rooms.

Along with more space for classrooms, Queally Hall will also be the home to the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The center will serve as the breeding ground for the entrepreneurial and innovative process involving faculty and students from all departments. The center will be a resource for cross-disciplinary research, teaching and learning for economic development.

The addition of the new stadium, Queally Hall and the Carole Weinstein International Center also sparked small but prominent changes in roadways to improve increased traffic flow. An agreed condition called the Special Use Permit made the construction of the roads a requirement to allow the opening of Robins Stadium.

The entrance from River Road to the University Forest Apartments was closed for most of the summer to remove stops signs and add speed humps for the new sweeping turns.

"Since we did away with the three-way stop and made UR Drive a thru street, the entrances to the two different parking lots at the new bend in the road became a challenge," said McBride. "It was apparent that a median, albeit round, was necessary to help direct traffic into those parking lots."

The last of the construction to be finished will be the new road, connecting Crenshaw Way from the Modlin Center for the Arts to Spider Lane of the 1900 block of the UFA. The merging road is scheduled to open before the Sept. 18 home opener.

"I believe it opens up the campus a great deal regardless of the game traffic issues," said Steve Bisese, vice president of student development. All road construction is scheduled to be completed during the Fall 2010 semester depending on weather delays and major material deliveries.

Contact staff writer Alice Chaosurawong at alice.chaosurawong@richmond.edu