The proposed tunnel under the south campus railroad tracks was authorized for design last week, after almost a year of delayed planning.

The design process, along with gathering data for a more detailed cost estimate, began this week with a probable start of construction in early 2008, according to Director of Construction Management Neil Bromilow.

He said the time between the first proposal in Fall 2005 and last week was “just the life of a normal project.”

“We knew it would be a year or so when the idea was created,” Bromilow said. “Some [of it] has to do with engineering; We spent time evaluating our options. The second piece would have been the idea of funding it, and getting arrangements to help pay for it. There was also all the prioritization of other work on campus.”

He said the tunnel, to be built across from the Hook, Brannock and Barney residence halls, should be completed within a year after construction begins.

The original plan to build a tunnel under the tracks came when construction began on South Campus, increasing the number of students who crossed the tracks for residential, academic and recreational reasons.

“We had so many students who crossed the railroad tracks on a daily basis, even though students are not supposed to do so,” said Gerald Whittington, vice president of business, finance and technology. “We would need to try to find some mechanism to make it safer, and this underpass seemed to be the best approach.”

Students are supposed to cross the tracks at the street intersections, which is simply a longer walk for those not living along those streets, Whittington said.

Bromilow said the recent railroad incident leading to the death of an Elon student didn’t affect the authorization of the project or encourage faster construction.

“The idea to do this has been around for about a year,” he said. “Engineering surveys have been going on for about six months now.”

Campus safety and police say the incident hasn’t affected patrol of the tracks either.

“Having a patrol car go by isn’t going to make a difference,” said Chuck Gantos, director of Campus Safety and Police. “That wouldn’t be the best mechanism to increase safety. But we’re always

interested in finding better ways to cross the railroad tracks.”

He explained that because the railroad is owned by the state, there’s a separate team of officers who promote safety and prevent students from crossing the tracks at illegal places.

The administration, as well as Campus Security, is hoping the new tunnel will promote safety around the tracks. A fence from Williamson Avenue to the intramural fields is also part of the railroad project, Bromilow said. It will be built after the tunnel is finished, because most of the construction will deal with digging up the area around the tracks.

Whittington said that although there are no immediate plans other than the tunnel and fence to increase safety around the tracks, he thinks the administration will be looking more closely into the issue.

“I’m sure that we will try to reinforce the safety concern, but we haven’t really decided how to do that yet,” he said.

Bromilow said that safety is going to be the construction’s “paramount concern” as well, especially during the most challenging part of the process: using steel beams to support the railroad tracks while workers work with cement.

“It could be a bad day at the office if something goes wrong with that,” he said.

Trains will be traveling slower through Elon, like traffic in heavy construction areas, according to Bromilow.

Reporter: Jessica Frizen - Photos: Alyse Knorr 04/26/07