What to know about UND’s busy summer construction season 

Campus transformation, upgrades underway as UND and Grand Forks tackle major projects

Editor’s note: The story below introduces a special edition of UND Today devoted to the Affinity core value of the UND LEADS Strategic Plan.

As readers know, UND Today focuses on UND LEADS core values in our issue published on the last Tuesday of each month. This means that each of the stories in today’s issue centers on a UND program or activity that reflects the plan’s core value of Affinity.

And as part of our focus on Affinity, this story will center on one one of that core value’s key strategic priorities: the call for UND to “cultivate physical and online campus environments that are welcoming, safe, healthy, and inclusive.” With that in mind, this story will document the parking, traffic and other restrictions that are planned for this summer, as UND does its best to maintain a physical campus that is “welcoming, safe, healthy and inclusive.” 

To continue the monthly UND Today series, our issue on June 30 will be devoted to the Discovery core value.

Comments or questions? Contact Tom Dennis, UND Today editor. Thank you for reading!

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Speaking during an April 15 Town Hall meeting, Karla Mongeon-Stewart, vice president for Finance & Operations, quickly got to the core of what’s taking place near and on campus over the summer.

“We have a lot of exciting things going on, but there’s going to be some disruption,” she said.

Here’s what’s in store:

• On campus, the STEM building project at the site of the former Hyslop Sports Center is full-steam-ahead. The community can expect to see increased truck traffic in that area over the summer as the state-of-the-art facility takes shape.
• Babcock Hall, located near Carnegie Hall and UND’s College of Engineering & Mines, has been vacant for nearly 10 years and will soon be taken down in an effort that will last through early August. Once the building has been removed, the site will be landscaped and will add to the green space of the central Quad. Much work has been done in coordination with the State Historical Society to archive and memorialize Babcock, one of UND’s oldest structures.

Throughout the Babcock Hall demolition project, the parking lot area immediately east of Carnegie Hall will be closed for equipment staging. The bigger parking lot to the south will remain open, but parking stalls in line with the smaller lot’s entry will be closed to provide easy access for vehicles hauling debris.

Centennial Drive, Fox Memorial Bridge and more

• Centennial Drive — the north-south road along Gamble Hall, Nistler Hall and Merrifield Hall, among other buildings — has seen heavy construction-related traffic in recent years, necessitating renewed surfacing. Expected to take until mid-August to complete, the renewed road will also feature a raised pedestrian crossing for those trekking to and from classes.
• Nearby, the Fox Memorial Bridge crossing the English Coulee is scheduled for replacement at the same time as the Centennial Drive project. The new bridge, linking the Centennial Drive corridor to the Hopper-Danley Chapel and Hughes Fine Arts Center, will have roughly the same alignment but a new look, including better lighting. That bridge is expected to open before Homecoming 2026.

With respect to Centennial Drive, access to the Burtness and Twamley parking lots will be maintained throughout the projects, via Davis Drive, and University Avenue traffic should remain unaffected by the closure. Davis Drive will likely close for a brief stint over the summer to connect it with the renewed Centennial Drive.

• Around campus, department and office locations will shift as the University closes Columbia Hall this summer. Renovations at Gamble Hall and Twamley Hall, as well as at the former UND Bookstore location on Hamline Street, are wrapping up to accompany them.

Infrastructure improvements continue across campus with the replacement of aging electrical systems to improve reliability and backup capabilities. People can expect to see excavations along campus streets through the summer months.

Also over the summer, through July, a full renovation is expected for the high-capacity Chester Fritz Performing Arts Center parking lot. The lot will see new asphalt, signage and curbs leading up to the fall 2026 semester.

Stay tuned to publications such as University Letter for consistent updates on the latest closures and interruptions to campus traffic. The Parking Updates blog also publishes updates on parking availability.

Closure of North 42nd Street starts in June

And yet, all of these major projects around UND property are likely overshadowed by one of the biggest road projects in Grand Forks’ recent memory: the redevelopment of the rail crossing at the intersection of North 42nd Street and Demers Avenue.

Work started in April to stage the site that will see the development of an underpass at North 42nd Street and Demers Avenue’s intersection. The project resolves a longstanding, frustrating situation for Grand Forks drivers: waiting for the train.

By mid-June, the intersection will be closed, in turn cutting off a main artery for campus commuters.

The railway will remain open, with the portion nearest the underpass site curving to the north.

For Demers Avenue, a bypass road is set to open that circumvents the construction site through Ray Richards Golf Course.

But to the north, North 42nd Street will be closed at the intersection of James Ray Drive — the access point to UND’s Center for Innovation, Tech Accelerator, Skalicky Tech Incubator, Core Technology Services and Robin and Ryan Hall.

Thus, primary campus access is shifting to Gateway Drive, which is expected to be the case for the next two years as the underpass develops.

With the Demers Avenue bypass cutting across the existing northwest corner of Ray Richards Golf Course, the course will also be closed for the next two years. It’s set to reopen as a nine-hole course in 2028.

Brian Larson, director of construction management, described the process as intricate during the April 15 Town Hall, characterizing “a lot of utility work and numerous phases of roadway construction.”

The end result will see two bridges that will have been built in parallel, both of which will be cross atop North 42nd Street: one bridge to carry Demers Avenue traffic, and another for the BNSF railroad just north.

Note that this arrangement is different than the one Grand Forks residents are already familiar with – the one that routes North Washington Street traffic beneath a railroad bridge. South of that underpass, Demers Avenue and Washington Street meet at a stoplight-controlled (and very busy) intersection, whereas Demers Avenue and 42nd Street traffic will no longer be intersecting with each other at grade.

For UND purposes, the bottom line for the next two years is this: “We’ll just have to exercise patience and make sure that we’re allowing plenty of time for additional construction traffic, as well as detour traffic as we’re coming to and from campus,” Larson said.

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>> Questions or comments about the UND LEADS Strategic Plan? Your thoughts are welcome! Please contact Ryan Zerr, associate vice president for Strategy & Implementation, or Brandon Wallace, senior financial accountant, the co-chairs of the UND LEADS Implementation Committee. You also may offer your thoughts by visiting the UND LEADS Strategic Plan home page and clicking on the “Provide your feedback” link.

Thank you for your support of the UND LEADS Strategic Plan!