$2M Lansing Board of Water and Light project to upgrade Lansing Community College campus

The 1,000-foot steam line and 1,300-foot water main under the Lansing Community College was installed in the 1890s. With all that has changed in Lansing since Ransom E. Olds founded the Olds Motor Vehicle Company around the same time, it was about time for an upgrade.

“The infrastructure upgrade has been planned by the BWL for several years," says Sue Warren, Manager of Energy and Eco-Strategies with the Lansing Board of Water and Light.   "The steam line, which has experienced several leaks in recent years, was installed approximately 90 years ago.”

The BWL began the $2 million project on the LCC campus in early April, and work will continue through mid-September. The project will affect pedestrian traffic on LCC campus, a portion of the playground at the Early Learning Children’s Community and LCC’s outdoor amphitheater. Multiple lane closures will affect traffic through May 15.

The project will be funded by the BWL and is the largest infrastructure improvement made to the property since the campus opened in 1957. The BWL will use a technique called “pipe-bursting” to minimize excavation for the water main replacement. Excavation will be necessary for replacing the steam line.

Throughout the project, signage will be erected to navigate pedestrians safely through the construction zone and all LCC classrooms and parking lots will remain open.

Source: Sue Warren, Lansing Board of Water and Light

Writer: Natalie Burg, News Editor