underpass
January 15, 2014
We’ll Get There in “Snow Time”: Extreme Weather Hinders Student Returns
With a storm adding 9.3 inches of snow, extreme sub-zero temperatures, as well as a “state of emergency” declared in Elkhart County, the spring semester at Goshen College began with an interesting twist. On January 5 an email from Bill Born, vice president of student life, informed students of a “state of emergency,” preventing people from driving on the roads. Born recommended that students “plan to arrive sometime during the day on Tuesday.” With campus closed on Monday and a strong recommendation to stay off of the roads, GC students needed to plan their return to campus around the weather. Ammon...
November 15, 2012
Underpass open after months of construction, years of planning
A crowd of about 20 spectators gathered last Friday to watch President Jim Brenneman cut through a thick purple ribbon. The break of the ribbon, snipped with giant scissors to the cheers of onlookers, marked the official opening of the Winona Trail Bike and Pedestrian Underpass. “For 50 years students have had a reason to be late to class,” said Brenneman. Now, with the tunnel's opening, students can no longer use a train as an excuse. The underpass, a 10-foot, well-lit tunnel which allows students to cross under the tracks when trains pass through campus, is a culmination of months...
November 1, 2012
Underpass completion still in waiting
“The reason the ribbon cutting has been delayed is because there were several minor errors in the handrails which needed to be sent back to the manufacturer for correction. As soon as the rails arrive we will open up the underpass. Other details that remain are finishing the irrigation system, installing sod and planting prairie seed mix on the berms and installing lights along the sidewalks. The contractors appreciate it if everyone honors the fences in place.” -Glenn Gilbert, sustainability coordinator
October 18, 2012
Underpass well underway
A ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, Oct. 25 will mark the official opening of the underpass, said Glenn Gilbert, sustainability coordinator. This week, the contractors are completing the concrete work and sidewalks. According to schedule, the chair lifts, lights, guard rails and hand rails should be installed by the end of the week, Gilbert said. There have been “no major setbacks or conflicts,” according to Gilbert. The construction of the underpass is on schedule, but Gilbert said the contractor does not have control over the reconstruction of the “at-grade railroad crossing.” That piece is done by the railroad crew. Final...
September 7, 2012
Construction projects occupy campus
Goshen College students stepping onto campus this fall will notice a plethora of construction welcoming them to campus. The college is currently in the midst of three major construction projects: a new train underpass, a renovated Union building and a new geothermal heating system. All three projects started last spring and are scheduled for completion at some point this fall. Bill Born, vice president of student life, explained that, while the idea of an underpass had been bounced around even before his time here, “the actual project that we’re now seeing probably came to the table six or seven years...
March 28, 2012
Goshen College in good company with colleges turning to underpasses
Goshen College isn’t the only college where train whistles interrupt professors mid-sentence. Trains cross more than 25 college campuses, according to a forum posted on the website for Trains Magazine. At Grinnell College, a private liberal arts college in Iowa, a railroad divides the residential campus from the academic campus. A railroad separates the sports complex from the main campus at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, also a private liberal arts university. A freight train runs through the center of James Madison University in Virginia. At the University of Louisville in Kentucky, a train track even separates the two buildings...
February 23, 2012
Train underpass to be built in a day
By next school year, waiting for a slow train will no longer be an excuse to be late for class. The plan to build an underpass tunnel beneath the train tracks, which run through the middle of the Goshen College campus, has been 30 years in the making and will finally begin in March. According to Jim Histand, GC vice president for finance and overseer of physical plant and facilities, plans for an underpass have been in the campus master plan for nearly three decades, but planners became serious about the idea in 2002 when an engineering feasibility study was...
February 5, 2011
Underpass plan derailed for yet another year
Plans to install a railroad underpass on campus have been delayed again, adding yet another year to a project that has already been four years in the making. The estimated installation date for the underpass is now July 4, 2012. The delay results from complexities involving Norfolk Southern Corporation and Indiana Department of Transportation, two major companies working with the project. The installation was originally planned to occur on July 4, 2011, a prime day for construction because the tracks would be free for 24 hours due to the holiday. As there had already been previous delays that had set...
April 21, 2010
Railway underpass gets green light
Two decades ago, Goshen College’s long term plans included a railway underpass. Thanks to the generosity of the City of Goshen and the college's persistence, the college is a few steps closer to breaking ground for the underpass. In a Goshen city council meeting about two years ago, the college received a matching grant from the city of Goshen. The council promised 80 percent of the necessary funding if Goshen College agreed to raise the final 20 percent. Initial discussions with Norfolk Southern Railway were discouraging, as the company insisted on closing all pedestrian railroad crossings in exchange for the...
April 1, 2010
Proposal for underpass at a standstill
Goshen College is at risk of losing a chance to install a railroad underpass, and nearly $2 million in federal funding to build it, because of an apparent impasse with the Norfolk Southern Railway. At the heart of the standoff is Norfolk Southern’s request that Goshen College eliminate other pedestrian railroad crossings on campus – as many as five – in exchange for adding the underpass. “Everyone who crosses the tracks would be expected to go under the single tunnel. That’s just not going to happen,” said Jim Histand, the vice president of finance at Goshen College. The college’s overall...
January 21, 2009
No more train excuses: Railway underpass plan in the works for ’09-’10
By this time next year, “I was waiting for a train,” will no longer be a possible excuse for arriving late to class. Engineering and design of a pedestrian railroad underpass is currently underway for Goshen College. The underpass will provide a route for pedestrians to safely cross the railroad tracks – which run through the Goshen College campus – in the case of a stopped train. “The point of the project is to improve safety,” said Jim Histand, vice president for finance. Goshen College has had federal approval for the project for about a year and a half, but...