Northbound Etiwanda Avenue (West University Drive) between Prairie and Plummer Streets will be closed and fenced beginning sometime between Sept. 27 and Oct. 2. Southbound Etiwanda traffic will remain unaffected.

Director of Design and Construction for California State University, Northridge’s Department of Facilities Planning, Design and Construction, Catherine Kniazewycz, said the closure is due to a project called the Central Piping Replacement Project.

Phase one of this project started in 2015-16 and replaced piping along the Mike Curb College Arts Walk between Etiwanda and Lindley Avenues as well as along part of Lindley north of Mike Curb College Arts Walk.

“The project replaces large sections of the underground piping that circulates hot water from the boilers of the CSUN Central Plant to campus buildings, to provide heating and hot water to campus buildings.

“The piping being replaced became deteriorated over the years, and the campus was experiencing structural failures at the piping joints,” Kniazewycz said.

Phase two, the current phase, started this February and is expected to be completed in early 2018. Until now, the phase-two work only affected Jacaranda Walk through the heart of the campus, where crews have surrounded the work area with blue fencing.

The phase-two work on Etiwanda will pick up where phase one left off, replacing piping between Prairie and Jacaranda Walk. Northbound Etiwanda will be closed north of Prairie until early next year.

No campus buildings will be closed during weekdays for the piping replacement project, Kniazewycz said.

“We do plan to replace the short lateral runs of piping that connect from Etiwanda to the Education Building, and from Etiwanda to Bayramian Hall in the next few months,” Kniazewycz said. “This will involve a temporary weekend shutdown to each of those buildings, but should not affect building occupants during the school week. Building occupants will be notified about the work ahead of time.”

The exact dates for that work have not yet been determined, she said.

For more information about the street closures and the project, call Facilities Planning, Design and Construction at 818-677-2561 or email facilities@csun.edu.

CSUN, Etiwanda Avenue, Students, University News