Piping from the new Renewable Energy Center has to be replaced, and the construction will eventually close Roosevelt Drive.

Chad Weber, a mechanical engineer for the Facilities, Planning and Management Office, said the piping is being replaced under the warranty given by the contractor that originally ran the piping of the steam tunnel between campus and the Renewable Energy Center.

“This is due to a flood event that happened during construction, which resulted in some issues that needed to be corrected,” Weber said.

The section of the steam pipe that will be focused on is the area between the Ninth Street Lot and Carman Hall.

The construction is scheduled to start today.

The construction has been separated into three different sections that will be worked on at different times, Weber said.

Section A will focus on a section of Ninth Street Lot until Oct. 24. The lot will remain open with a small section blocked off for construction.

Around Sept. 19, weather permitting, the construction will spread to Section B, which is a section of Roosevelt Drive, which will be closed to traffic for about a week and a half to two weeks.

Weber said Greek Court will be accessible from the other side on 12th Street.

Section C will focus on a section between Roosevelt Drive and Carman Hall along the pond between Ninth Street Hall and Carman Hall.

Weber said he estimated the construction to end around Nov. 1.

Construction will start at 8 a.m. and continue until 4:30 p.m. each day.

Weber said the construction should not disrupt the campus community too much.

“It’s just going to be another inconvenience to the campus community,” Weber said.

He said while they are relaying the steam tunnel, they are finishing up things at the Renewable Energy Center.

The work at the Renewable Energy Center consists of tuning up the machines and making sure everything is working properly, he added.

He said the center should be up and running around mid-September, and construction with the old steam plant by the Student Services Building will be put on standby in case further problems arise.

“We’ve basically just been cleaning up different items and tweaking, finishing our start-up period,” Weber said.

Samantha McDaniel can be reached at 581-2812 or slmcdaniel@eiu.edu.