ANN ARBOR - The building trades and general contractor Walbridge-Aldinger have arrived at a crossroads on the University of Michigan campus as they build the School of Public Health Buildings Addition and Renovation.

The $70 million project will include an addition that spans Washington Heights street. The seven-story bridge-building will connect the Henry F. Vaughn School of Public Health building I (SPH I) with the Thomas Francis Jr. School of Public Health II Building (SPH II). The 125,000-square-foot addition will house modern open laboratories, instructional spaces, student and faculty interaction areas, and offices.

Ground was broken on Oct. 23, with the "crossroads" metaphor prominently used.

"From the beginning, we have conceived the school's new building complex as a crossroads of intellectual activity, of research and teaching, of academe and community," said Noreen Clark, school of public health dean. "This concept reflects the school's longstanding tradition of interdisciplinarity and heralds our future direction."

There are currently only 35 Hardhats currently working on the project - a number that will ramp up significantly in the next two years. The project is expected to be complete in the fall of 2007.

"We're only about 20 percent through the project; we have a long way to go," said Walbridge Project Supt. Al Bortolon. "We're tying into two existing buildings and we're going to make sure everything comes together. So far the big challenge has been the wet weather. And of course we all have to get used to the lack of room."

In a four-block area near the School of Public Health project, more than $1 billion in construction activity is ongoing. A single tower crane in the middle of all the activity hasn't moved and has served no less than three buildings. All told, there are numerous construction sites on the U-M campus, and few have much room for a lay-down area or anything besides the buildings.

The university said in a statement that "the new School of Public Health facility will allow for greater collaboration among departments, research centers, faculty, students, and communities of all kinds, and will enable students across departments to exchange ideas with each other and with colleagues throughout the world. Shared teaching spaces will be more centralized, and opportunities for research will multiply."

SPH I was constructed in 1942, and a series of additions were completed in the 1940s and 50s. The renovation portion of this project will provide a modernization of building systems in SPH I including new mechanical, plumbing, electrical, and life safety systems. Other improvements to SPH I include a new roof and air conditioning of all spaces.

The addition will house modern laboratories formerly in SPH I, and that space in the existing building will be converted to office and dry lab research space. Only minor renovations will be made to SPH II.

Sponsored research at the U-M School of Public Health has doubled over the past five years to $67 million.

"This is one of the strongest schools of public health in the nation," said Glenn Fosdick, University alum and member of the School of Public Health Board of Governors, in the Michigan Daily. "They desperately need not only the additional space but also the renovation."

A CEMENT TRUCK driven by Michael Powers of Teamsters Local 247 emerges from the new seven-story "bridge" that connects the two U-M School of Public Health buildings over Washington Square Street.

A RENDERING OF THE NEW $70 million School of Public Health Addition on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor.