The mechanical sounds are inescapable and the detours are unavoidable. It’s construction season at NIU.

“What we’re really trying to do is get the campus ready for the students in the fall,” said Bob Albanese, associate vice president of Finance and Facilities. “From what I hear, this is going to be the biggest enrollment NIU’s ever had.”

NIU targets May through August as its prime window of opportunity to make the necessary improvements and repairs to the campus each year. About 100 construction workers from various companies have been working on projects this summer.

One of the largest projects was renovating the visitors’ parking lot on the southwest side of Founders Memorial Library. Albanese said construction is on schedule and should be complete by the fall semester.

NIU also added additional parking spaces and more landscaping near the library. It should be completed within the next four weeks.

“It’s so hard to walk on campus lately,” said Jean Sheyngis, a junior elementary education major. “I hope for their sake, they stay on schedule so that all this will be cleaned up before classes start.”

After the much-publicized budget cuts, this year’s improvements amount to less than past summers.

“Each summer we try to renovate eight or nine classrooms on campus into the smart classrooms,” Albanese said. “But this summer we were only able to do about five.”

Still, Albanese said this summer’s renovations have cost about $2 million.

The storm water management project, which included draining the lagoon, widening creeks and installing new bridges throughout campus, cost $8 million and is now in its final stages. The state-funded project was managed by the capital development board out of Chicago.

“It just needs some small things, the final cleanup, and it will be done,” Albanese said.

Senior biology major Maggie Moses thinks NIU spent too much time renovating.

“The whole four years I’ve been here, it seems that there has always been construction,” she said.

The Holmes Student Center is the site of several projects this summer. Huskie buses have been rerouted to the other side of the student center until the bus turnaround’s curbs are replaced and the street is patched in a $40,000 renovation.

“That place was a real mess and the street was deteriorating rapidly,” Albanese said.

Also, the student center’s Duke Ellington Ballroom will get an $800,000 update to replace its roof and update its interior, which will include upgrades to sound, lighting and room aesthetics. Both projects are on schedule and should be completed in early fall.

Altgeld Hall has been one of the most publicized construction projects on campus for the past few years. Albanese said the castle, which has been under construction for nearly five years, is in its final stages of renovation and will be ready for occupancy by January.