Southwest 36th Street runs past the Commons Residence Hall and ends in the Rolling Hills Graduate Apartments. This road has been under construction since Dec. 14, 2015.
NSU has a building and grounds committee that made the final decision on the construction.
Jessica Brumley, vice president of Facilities Management, said, “They’re taking the existing Southwest 36th Street and moving it further south, so ultimately the street you drive on today will be closed and there will be a new road on the southernmost part of campus.”
Brumley said there were two reasons for the construction. She explained that NSU needed to create room for the athletic fields and an existing infrastructure agreement with the town of Davie required NSU to build the new road.
“We have a master plan for the overall Davie/Ft. Lauderdale campus and facilities ultimately brings project recommendations to executive management’s EVP, COO and president,” she said. “We also have a building and grounds committee that’s comprised of board of trustee members that make the final determination.”
Southwest 36th Street is the main route for students without vehicles to take to get to classes or the bookstore in the University Park Plaza (UPP). Francescka Castillo, sophomore biology major, said she used the street very often, but she did not feel comfortable taking the road.
“I walked down the road three times a week to get to my sociology class in the UPP,” she said. “[Southwest 36th Street] is not safe to walk on, and I feel like I could get trampled.”
Castillo said she felt in danger walking on the street and would not have taken the street if she did not have to. She also said she just wants the construction to be finished.
Overall construction of the street is estimated to finish by January 2017, one section of paver work will be finished by summer 2017 and the new road will be open for vehicular traffic by Thanksgiving of this year. Parts of the current sidewalk will not be redone, but new segments will be built on the new parts of Southwest 36th Street near the Commons.
For more information or any questions regarding the construction, please call the Office of Facilities Management at 954-262-8835.
Credit: R. Hirstein
Caption: Construction of the new Southwest 36th Street.
