I have concerns about air and noise pollution, and traffic.

My biggest concerns are those around traffic/parking and the air/noise pollution. As I am a resident who lives on campus and will be living here during the summer, these things will majorly affect me. I want to make sure that I’m not going to have to listen to jackhammers and bulldozers at 6am in the morning or 10pm at night. Another problem is that of air pollution. The college I live in will be very close to the site and I am worried about the dust that will be filling the air. Not only will I have to be careful when I’m outside of my building (to keep from breathing too much of it in), but inside as well. I want to know what is going to be done to protect the air conditioning system at my building that could possibly suck up the excess dust and pump it through into my room.  Does my system have a proper filtering system to keep that from happening? Will the excess dust cause the system at my building to work harder with all that dust in its filters and possibly cause breakdowns? My other major concern will definitely be that of parking and traffic on campus. During the summer months when the majority of the students and some of the staff are away it may not be too bad. This project however will be one that takes a couple of years to finish and that means that during the main semester periods there will be even more trouble with parking on campus. We’ll have an additional “who knows how many” people on campus for the construction. There will be countless extra workers vehicles, construction vehicles, and heavy equipment parked on the campus lots. What does that do for those of us who have to live here and for those students from off campus who have to drive here? It’s already a nightmare finding a place to park for most people, this will make it even worse. What are the plans for handling this? Does the University or the construction company have a plan in place to allow for all of this? Will it be one that keeps the students from having even more difficulties than usual? Along those same lines what will happen with the flow of traffic on the campus if there are big construction vehicles driving around and blocking the roads at times? I also wonder if the University has taken into consideration what the heavy equipment may do to the condition of the roads on campus when they are driving on them? How often will it be torn up and have to be patched by the maintenance staff? These are just a few of the concerns I would like to be considered in the tender and feedback given by the people responsible.
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2 Responses to I have concerns about air and noise pollution, and traffic.

  1. UoN Accommodation Services says:

    Great post Danny. The University is already using some of these comments for the New Accommodation FAQ webpage (http://www.newcastle.edu.au/service/accommodation/new-student-accommodation/faqs/) and looking at how they can contribute to the tender. Keep them coming- this is your opportunity to have your say. Comments on blogs are also welcome! The opportunity to provide input into the tender closes this Friday.

  2. Ashley Pincham says:

    Danny, as a Construction Management student who has also been working in construction for past 3 years, things such as noise and dust pollution are pretty much standard in all tenders. Noise is controlled by council regulations which are presented in part of the development approval.
    Air pollution is not just a concern to you but more importantly to the workers in the immediate area thus not an issue looked over.
    It is often allowed for in the tender for a water supply company to bring in specialised trucks to spray water across the site while earthworks are undertaken to suppress the dust.

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