Are you sick and tired of the computers in the WAC Lab crashing the day before your research paper is due? Or are you fed up with the residence hall washers breaking just when you are out of clean underwear? If your answer is yes to either of these questions, you can now rest easy because help is on the way.
According to Mike Davis, assistant vice-president of business affairs for procurement and plant operations, the electrical upgrades at Nicholls should be substantially complete by Jan. 29 or 30. Students do not have to worry about the cost because this $1.9 million project is funded by the state. All Right Electrical Company has been hired as the contractor for the project.
The key reasons for the electrical upgrade is to ensure a more reliable service to the University and to increase electrical capacity to several buildings that were built in the 60s and 70s and have not received upgrades since that time.
The last upgrade, Phase I, took place two years ago. This phase consisted of the construction of a new electrical substation and the running of the new feeder line from the substation to the main electrical manhole. All of these electrical connections were sitting underground.
“Prior to that, the electrical service had been the same for about 20 years,” Davis said.
Phase II of the project was to get the connections out of the water and run new electrical cables. Since they had been soaking underground for almost two decades, these high-voltage electrical cables were brittle and readily subject to fail.
The installation of new transformers also took place because the electrical capacity in buildings such as Talbot Hall had been maxed out.
Davis ensured that the current upgrades would bring Nicholls up to par in the electrical aspect when compared to other schools. No damage is expected from the electrical upgrades.
If there is any money left over from the upgrade project, Davis plans to have metal fences placed around some of the electrical boxes for safety purposes. “For some reason, the students think it is the perfect place to sit down and it is not because there is high-voltage inside there. We have particularly had some problems with the one right across the street from Long Hall,” Davis said.
Nicholls’s telephone lines are also due for an update. Dr. Olivia Pass, professor of languages and literature, said there are times when she needs to contact students who live outside of the Thibodaux area; however, Nicholls does not offer long distance service in the Languages and Literature offices.
“That is a big problem for me. I will either use my cell phone’s precious minutes or my home phone at my expense,” Pass said. She is also looking forward to the University phones having voice mail.
Davis said the telephone lines are a separate and ongoing project and the project should be completed during the Mardi Gras break.