Eastern Students will soon have drier feet thanks to campus sidewalk and drainage improvements currently being undertaken on campus.

Students in the past trekked through deep puddles on the North Quad and had to deal with drainage issues which flooded the Library Quad.

Poor drainage combined with settling and cracking in the sidewalk made repairs a necessity. A repair project, started June 12, will fix sidewalks and improve drainage conditions.

“Fixing these problems has been one of our top priorities. The improvements are being done to get rid of the puddles and to help the water drain quicker,” Carol Strode, assistant director of physical plant, said.

Throughout the north and south quads water had become somewhat of a permanent fixture, with some sections of sidewalk becoming completely submersed.

“We had some problems with water collecting and not going anywhere,” David Reed, Superintendent of Utilities, said. “We are replacing and raising the sidewalks after some of the sidewalks settled over the years.”

The project, started in the spring and Reed said they managed to correct several problems.

“This is the second phase. We identified some additional problems on campus that needed some attention, and they are now being taken care of,” Reed said.

Work started on the south quad first where the most foot traffic is.

Work on the north quad is expected to take approximately 10 working days, and the library quad is anticipated to take five to 10 working days.

Chain-link fencing will be used to enclose areas of work and will be removed as work progresses as walks are made suitable for use.

“There will be no new storm drains to take care of the problem. The water will simply be rerouted to preexisting storm drains,” said Reed.

Students should no longer have to jump puddles or worry about soaked socks

or cold feet after the repairs.

“A substantial amount of the problems with drainage should be corrected after this project is completed,” said Reed.

Reed said, although many of the problems are being corrected, there is always the possibility that additional improvements will need to be made.

“If there are any problems that come up after these improvements, they will be addressed later,” Reed said.