Roosevelt Drive in Greek Court will be closed beginning Oct. 4 through Oct. 19 for steam tunnel construction.

Dave Crockett, the associate director of Facilities, Planning and Management, said the closing of the street is necessary for the construction of the tunnel, which will connect Greek Court to Carman Hall.

He said the original tunnel that was installed with piping over to Carman would flood because of a pump failure.

“The original tunnel was 25 feet deep in the ground and is actually below the level of the pond, so it’s a very wet area,” he said. “All the insulation around the pipe gets really wet and soggy.”

Crockett described three different types of piping, including the steam line, which carries steam back from the building after the heat is extracted from it.

Another type of two-inch piping that is a part of the steam tunnel was one of the main problems that led Facilities, Planning and Management to realize there was work that had to be done to fix it.

“The lead insulation caused some of the pipes to corrode and rust,” he said. “They’re not in as good of condition anymore and have some damage.”

Crockett said the contractor was required to repair the piping under the warranty.

“It was more cost-effective to just abandon the deep tunnel in place and figure out a way to pour a shallow tunnel directly under the sidewalk,” he said.

Crockett said the new piping will be installed just under the surface of the sidewalk, and that is why the road will be shut down for some time.

“The new steam line that goes all the way from the new steam plant to the old steam plant on campus branches out right there and goes to Carman,” he said. “That section of the piping is being completely replaced.”

Crockett said Carman used to have a standalone steam boiler in the basement before the new steam plant, but the new process allows Facilities, Planning and Management to get rid of that boiler.

“We can now run the two towers of Carman off of the new steam plant,” he said.

Crockett said he hopes the process goes quicker than expected, and the road will only be closed for about a week.

“They’re going to try and expedite that and so they get that part of the piping done to minimize the cutting off of the Greek Court area from the rest of campus,” he said.

Crockett said vehicles can still access all Greek Court buildings, but will have to enter by way of 12th Street.

Robyn Dexter can be reached at 581-2812 or redexter@eiu.edu.