Summer graduation for OSUIT is one week away (August 24). But, due to reconstruction efforts, it’s looking like one of our most important parking lots will be out of commission for this major event. This may require guests attending graduation to park a little further away than in previous years. OSUIT will be running a free shuttle service all across campus to help guests get to and from Covelle Hall, where both the 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. ceremonies will be held. We’re certainly hoping for cooperative weather on that day, but we apologize in advance for any inconvenience this parking situation might cause.

Q: Why are there so many cars parking along the Loop 56 entrance to campus?

A: It’s a sad tale of disappointment and woe, but let me tell you about the Saga of the Miller-Kamm Parking Lot… It all began at the end of June as a bold plan to take full advantage of the Summer Break—while students would be away from campus—to resurface and re-stripe the parking lots and sealcoat the roadways on the OSUIT campus in Okmulgee. It was hoped that by the time students and faculty returned from their two-week break, the majority of the work would be completed, and the entire campus would have a fresh new look. But all did not go according to plan.

Several unforeseen issues forced a delay on one of our largest parking lots on campus—at the Miller-Kamm Residential Halls. It was scheduled to be the first parking lot on campus to be resurfaced. But when surface grinding was done, expecting to find a subgrade surface of crushed rock at two inches, our paving contractor found only packed soil and no subgrade surface. This surprising discovery required us to halt the entire campus-wide project while the cost of completely removing and replacing this badly degraded parking lot was assessed.

Heavy equipment stood still on a half-finished parking surface, and students returned to classes with fewer options for parking. Temporary parking was created on some of the campus lawns and along roadways to accommodate frustrated students. Meanwhile, core samples were being taken and analyzed from other parking lots around campus. Once the additional costs of reinstalling the Miller-Kamm parking lot was factored in and repaving plans for other parts of campus were scaled back accordingly, worked resumed outside of Miller-Kamm. But optimism was short-lived because the paving contractor encountered another surprise while excavating for the new sub-grade. They struck groundwater which means the water table below this parking lot is much higher than expected and will require the inclusion of a full drainage system in order to be installed correctly—more costs and more delays.

We are halfway through August now, and many of our students who live on campus are still displaced from their primary parking area. What started out as an ambitious plan for campus-wide improvements has become an all-out battle with one parking lot, and I think the parking lot is winning!

A very good question this week. Please continue to send your questions or comments about OSUIT to osuitpresident@okstate.edu .

Dr. Bill R. Path is president of Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology and board member of Okmulgee Main Street Inc.