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Clark Hall blasts off

Need a change of pace in your study schedule? Clark Hall has been shaking it up lately.

About four times a day, starting at 8:15 a.m., construction workers blast through the solid rock between Clark Hall and Kerchof Hall as part of the renovation of the Environmental Science building.

All blasts are preceded by a three-siren warning five minutes before the blast and then by a two-siren warning immediately before the blast. A single siren gives the "all clear" signal once the rubble has settled. Earplugs are available at the library's information desk.

"The first time it happened, it felt like the roof came down," third-year College student Jessica Burton said. "Now everything rattles, but it's like, deal with it."

Blasting does occur during class time, but is prohibited on home football game days.

According to David Smith, the associate chairman of the Environmental Science department, the blasting must take place to build the "fairly sophisticated" mechanical room that will be housed in the basement of the Clark Hall addition. The four-story addition will house labs and expand the library's main floor reading room.

Although the addition's construction will take about 18 months to complete, the blasting should continue for only about 10 more days. But in order to excavate 10 feet below the level of the parking lot, workers must blast through a rock dike.

"This is not something you can just take a backhoe to," Smith said.

Once a large enough hole has been drilled, dynamite is dropped in. Blasting blankets, sheets of tires that have been cut and laced together, cover the site to block the blasted debris from flying in the air. All vehicular and pedestrian traffic is stopped before a blast.

Ultimately, the construction crews will remove over 5,000 cubic yards of rock.

"They're going through bedrock out there," said Geology Prof. Tom Biggs, who has an office on the second floor of Clark. "But it's no big deal, just little vibrations."

Compiled by Josie Roberts

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