By Patrick Smith / Staff writer

Last week, Pitt-Greensburg students with morning classes got a trick rather than a treat for Halloween.

Students received e-mails on Tuesday from Vice President for Administrative Affairs Carl Rossman alerting them to the closures of two major arteries on campus — Lynch Road, between Rossetti House and Powers Hall, and the footbridge from McKenna Hall to the Faculty Office Building.

Alternate routes were presented in the messages.

The e-mail said that the maintenance project was to replace the three heating units on top of the Faculty Office Building and that a crane was needed to complete the replacement.
According to Director of Plaint Maintenance Joe Olczak, the replaced heating and cooling units were 21 years old.

“The typical lifespan for these units, depending on how often they’re used, is about 20 years,” says Olczak. “All three units had deteriorated — one, actually, to the point where it could potentially leak hazardous fumes into the FOB.”

One of the units had already begun to leak water into the FOB secretary’s office.

A great deal of planning went into the replacement operation. A crane was needed to lift the new units onto the roof of the FOB. Plant Maintenance also had to find a place to put the crane. Then, the Plant Maintenance decided what was the best time to perform the maintenance.

“Originally, we had planned to install the new units on Tuesday, Nov. 6, but the units arrived early,” Olczak said. He said he wanted to make sure that they units were installed before the weather got too cold. He decided to move the operation up a week.

Plant Maintenance had looked into placing the crane above Powers Hall instead of below the FOB on Lynch Road.

“We decided not to use this plan because we would have to swing this very heavy equipment over a portion of the parking lot in front of Powers, the roof of Powers and over to the roof of FOB,” Olczak said. “We would have had to cancel morning classes.”

But putting the crane on Lynch Road forced the closing of that road and the footbridge to McKenna, prompting Rossman’s e-mails.

“It turned out there wasn’t much to be worried about,” said junior Heather Dandar, who lives in the Academic Villages. “I got to all my classes. I just didn’t get down to Chambers for lunch.”

The project ran from about 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. The road and footbridge opened soon after.