It’s no secret that roads in the Detroit area are sub-par to say the least. Up until a few months ago, the same could have been said about those at UDM as well.
However, this past summer, the University of Detroit Mercy’s Facility Operations team took initiative to fix this problem. Beginning on May 26, they began a project to completely repave the road in front of Reno Hall, just inside the Livernois entrance.
Dave Vandelinder, director of Facility Operations and Construction Management, said that this was a project that was long overdue.
“It’s been in really poor condition,” Vandelinder said. “It has been on our deferred maintenance list for several years now and we finally took the opportunity to pave it this summer.”
Vandelinder explained that the freezing and thawing of the ground every year was a big cause in the deterioration of the road causing it to crack.
“We’ve been putting patches on it and making minor repairs just to make it passable,” Vandelinder said, “but the total repaving was long overdue.”
Some concrete repairs also took place. Damaged catch basins that collect rain water were replaced, as well as some sidewalk sections. But even with the extensive repairs by Facility Operations, not all students have taken notice.
Junior biology major Lexi Scheuer, who commutes to campus daily from Hamtramck, said that she did not notice the improvements.
“I noticed that the road was bad before,” Scheuer said, “but I didn’t really noticed that it had gotten better.”
Although people may not be taking notice, junior education major J.D. Hess said that may not be a bad thing at all.
“People driving onto the university shouldn’t have to worry about how poor the roads are when they enter campus,” Hess said. “The fact now that people don’t even notice the roads or complain about their condition is probably a good thing.”
Moving forward, Vandelinder and his team plan to continue improvements to UDM’s campus.
“We will be starting the Livernois entrance very soon,” Vandelinder said, alluding the President Antoine Garibaldi’s plan to revitalize the Livernois corridor.
Vandelinder also spoke of the new Inspire Lab in the Chemistry Building, an automotive lab in the engineering building and many other smaller projects around campus.
