Civil engineering renovates sections of Bethel Manor
Bethel Manor will experience several construction projects over the next several months.
One is a four-month-old project to alleviate the drainage problem residents experience. Construction has begun to regrade yards in the area, according to Roland Allen of the lst Civil Engineer Squadron design section. Residents in the 1500, 1600 and 1700 sections of Bethel Manor will be affected by this construction.
"The problem has been there for years," Allen said, "and this project will solve it."
Another way civil engineering hopes to relievethe drainage problem is to regrade the collection ditch from the fire station to Wythe Creek Road. Both projects are scheduled to continue for another eleven months.
The second project in Bethel Manor this summer is modernization of housing. This is occurring in several stages.
One stage involves renovating existing housing. This consists of updating the existing facilities' bathrooms, kitchens, floorings, and air conditioning and heating units. This project has all ready begun in the 2000 section, according to Charles London, architect, and should be completed by December 1998.
The third stage involves the demolition of 180 existing units, which will be replaced by 148 new units, said London. This stage will begin August 1. The work is being done by the Actus/Sundt Corporation.
Ten courts will be affected by the project. They are Skytrain, Talon, Texan, Bronco, Canberra, and Marauder drives and Starfighter, Airacobra, Blackwidow and Mustang courts.
Four courts are scheduled to be demolished August 1 with the six remaining demolished by
September 1. At that point, construction will begin on the new housing units London said.
Construction will be done in stages with crews assigned to each stage of the process.
One crew will be responsible for framing, another for plumbing, electrical wiring, air conditioning and heating, etc. There will be several crews that work on the exterior of each home. Each crew will complete their work on each unit and then move to the next.
"This is construction by stages," said London. "Once we get the first set of units
constructed, we should be completing four units a day until the project is complete."
The first units are slated to take 180 days to build and will be completed by January 1997.
The cost of the entire project is $16.1 million.
London said this figure is only 23 percent more than it would cost to remodel the units. He states that this extra cost will be more beneficial in the long run because the units will last 50 years or more, compared to 20 years if they were only remodeled.
Another goal of of the project is to maintain "visual community cohesion" London said.
"We went through great pains to ensure the new buildings will be compatible in style," he said. "It won't look like we've got two communities."
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