Brief 20th Street closure will accommodate Brandon University power upgrade

Update: ‘No Parking’ signs will be placed in the 300-block of 20th Street starting Thursday evening, Aug. 22, to allow contractors to begin staging equipment and material. Work will begin Monday, Aug. 26, at which time the street will close. Work is expected to be complete by Friday, Aug. 30.

Brandon University will be upgrading power cables underneath the campus, adding resiliency and new capacity to an aging system that has begun to reach the end of its life.

Beginning in the next few days, a short stretch of the 300-block of 20th Street, near the intersection with Louise Avenue, will be closed to allow new conduit to be installed under the road. This will affect north-south traffic on 20th Street, however all parking lot access is expected to be maintained.

The installation of new conduit and 5 kV power connections under 20th Street is expected to be complete by Sept. 1, and the street should be re-opened before the start of fall semester classes.

Into the fall, additional buried conduit will be installed along the east side of 20th Street towards the QE II Music Building, and along the north side of Darrach Hall and Harvest Hall towards the northwest corner of McMaster Hall. To minimize impact on the campus, contractors will be doing directional drilling underground, however brief closures of some small areas may be required, in particular the Harvest Hall loading dock and the back exit area of McMaster Hall. The campus will be notified as soon as possible if these are needed.

Many of the existing cables were originally installed in the 1960s and due to their age have recently been failing at an increased rate. The three new conduits are approximately 6 inches in diameter each and will accommodate future expansion and renovation of BU’s underground power connections.

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