Library construction will lead to new steps

For anyone who has wondered if the Hillman Library would ever actually start using its first… For anyone who has wondered if the Hillman Library would ever actually start using its first floor entrance, which has been closed for decades — longer than most Pitt staff and faculty can remember — an answer may be arriving soon.

As anybody who has been near Hillman Library over the past week must have noticed, the large, aging staircase which leads up to the library’s first floor plaza and long-dormant first floor entrance is now undergoing a thorough renovation with the help of the COST Construction company and its four-stories-tall crane.

The renovation is expected to cost about $70,000.

John Fedele, Pitt’s assistant director of news, explained that the staircase was just getting a facelift.

“The steps leading up to the [first floor] plaza are being repaired because they’ve undergone a lot of natural wear and tear, as well as water infiltration and freeze/thaw,” said Fedele, referring to the process where water will freeze into cracks, causing the cracks to expand. The ice will then melt, leaving room for further damage.

“The project is scheduled to be finished in the next two to three weeks,” Fedele added.

One construction worker at the site explained that the seemingly large size of the crane is necessary in order to get the right angle and height to work on the staircase.

Among other things, the crane was being used to pry off the old slabs of the staircase to make way for new ones.

Once the steps are repaired, there are hopeful plans to eventually restore the whole first floor plaza — which also has suffered its fair share of weathering damage — and perhaps even reopen the plaza entrance someday.

“The school is hoping to start repairing the plaza in the next year,” Fedele said.