Upper College Lane Closure - September 8

Smith’s Geothermal Energy Project continues to progress through the Central District, and the project team is actively coordinating with campus stakeholders for upcoming work. In addition to our typical post-summer update focused on campus-wide construction through the fall months, we would like to update the campus regarding upcoming construction that will impact traffic at upper College Lane during September / October 2025. Please see the summary below and the attached logistics plan for the extent of traffic impacts during this time period. 

As a continuation of work that began in the winter of 2024 and paused north of the Conference Center in the spring of 2025, excavation and piping activities will restart in front of McConnell Hall and the Conference Center starting September 8. Excavation activities for this final section will progress south on the road across from the bridge between Sabin-Reed and McConnell Hall. The road work will end near the ramp to the Conference Center. This work will continue for four weeks. Upper College Lane will be closed to traffic during the construction period. Sidewalks will also be impacted in this area, with detour signage in place to direct pedestrian traffic. Message boards will be installed in advance of this work on major routes. 

Please view the graphic below for specifics on impacted areas. For more information on the Geothermal Energy Project, please join our weekly distribution email or follow along with our updates at the dedicated project website.

As many of you know, Smith College is converting to geothermal energy as its source for heating and cooling throughout the campus. If you are new to campus or have questions about the project, we invite you to explore the  frequently asked questions, and our progress toward carbon neutrality by 2030. Interested students, faculty, and staff can sign up to receive a weekly project update through the homepage of this website. Send questions about the project to geoenergy@smith.edu.

This multi-year, campus wide effort began in May 2022, and the start of the new academic year offers an opportunity to provide an update on our progress and upcoming construction activities anticipated during the fall semester. 

Below, you'll find status updates broken down into three distinct districts: “North Campus” which includes Smith houses and buildings in the neighborhoods north of Elm Street, “Quadrangle” which includes Smith houses in the Quad, and “Central District” which is the main academic portion of the campus. The enclosed logistics plans detail the projected areas of work extending into fall 2025. Please note that plans may be revised as work progresses. Updates will be provided weekly throughout the academic year. 

North Campus

Smith achieved a major milestone worth celebrating - the first of three energy centers, Capen Energy Center, is fully operational as of October 2024! The Lamont building conversion project will be fully operational for fall 2025, providing cooling and heating from Capen Plant and marking completion of the North District conversion to geothermal energy. 

Quadrangle

During the summer and early fall of 2024, geothermal bore drilling took place in the field between Comstock House and Paradise Road. Following installation of the 62, 850-foot-deep, geothermal wells and circuit piping leading to the Quadrangle Geothermal Energy Plant in Emerson Basement, the lawn in front of Comstock House will be restored to include new paved plazas with site furniture, native plantings and a variety of spaces that can be used for outdoor activities. The landscape will be a combination of regular lawn, low mow lawn areas and native plantings. This work will be ongoing September through November.

Construction continues in the basement of Emerson House, our second energy center scheduled to be operational in the fall of 2025. Similar to the 2024/2025 academic year, disruptive work will be restricted to a 9 a.m. start. Emerson Plant will be fully operational Oct 2025, marking completion of the Quad District conversion to geothermal energy. 

Paradise Road

At the crosswalk directly across from the President’s House, a new stone seat wall will be built into the hillside to create an informal gathering spot for students to meet up with friends before heading to central campus. Hardscaping activities for this project are underway and will be completed before classes start this fall.

What was not much more than a goat path from Paradise Road down to the Pond will be redesigned to provide a safe and enjoyable way to navigate from the Quad down to the Pond. The steep slope and erosion from years of use will be replaced with a gentle serpentine walk down the forested hillside. Water runoff and erosion will be checked by a series of retention ponds along the walkway that will collect and disperse the water as it makes its way down to Paradise Pond. Along the path low intensity bollard lights will provide safety and wayfaring for after dusk.

Central District 

Last December, the drill rigs vacated the Quadrangle and re-mobilized at the Athletic field to begin drilling 190 geo-bores to serve the future Central Energy Plant (former Chiller Plant).  This drilling operation will continue through late summer 2025, with sitework and restoration of the athletics field through Spring 2026. Full use of the athletics fields is on schedule for the Fall 2026 semester.

In addition to the geo-bores, two horizontal bores crossing below the Mill River from Tyler Lawn to the new bore field are on schedule to complete drilling operations by early fall 2025.  Intensive sitework will continue in the area of Tyler Lawn and Green Street through October 2025, with active measures underway to mitigate noise disruptions as students return to resident halls around Tyler Lawn.

The geothermal distribution pipe (trenching) scope which connects the Energy Plants to the buildings continued throughout this past academic year.  Significant work was completed this summer along Neilson Drive, under Seelye Drive and through the Ainsworth parking lot. Trenching to Wright Hall and J.M. Greene will take place late summer and early fall respectively. 

Additionally, excavation work will take place in front of the Conference Center and McConnell Hall starting September 8 and continuing for four weeks, resulting in the closure of Upper College Lane during this activity. Sidewalks will also be impacted in this area with detour signage in place to direct pedestrian traffic. The attached phasing plan provides a timeline for anticipated work areas, which are subject to change. There will be vehicular, pedestrian and parking disruptions at various locations throughout the Central District for the Fall semester. Moving into the 2026 calendar year, the majority of distribution work across Central District will be complete, with minimal isolated pockets of work remaining for summer 2026. This marks a major milestone, after 4 summers of construction across the entire campus, the geothermal project has connected over 70 campus buildings to their respective district energy plants!   

Along with the distribution piping, there is also work in the basements and mechanical rooms throughout campus. The crews installed piping in nine basements throughout this past academic year. This fall, interior work will continue across multiple buildings in the lead up to the first phase of converting Central District buildings to geothermal summer 2026.

Kathleen McCartney Hall

Kathleen McCartney Hall is scheduled to accept its first occupants on Friday, September 12, 2025. It will be the new home for the Lazarus Center for Career Development and the Wurtele Center for Leadership. The project began in March of 2024 with the removal of a small faculty office building at 8 College Lane, followed by relocation and removal of existing site utilities to install new utilities. Thousands of cubic feet of soil were removed during the excavation process and support of excavation (SOE) sheets were placed to protect Chapin Drive and surrounding building site utilities. The project team is now working to complete finishes, commission mechanical and electrical systems, and conduct final cleaning of the building in preparation for installation of furniture on September 2. Exterior sitework is continuing with hardscaping of walkways and terraces, followed by landscaping throughout the fall. 

McCartney Hall is our first Mass Timber Structure, sourced from sustainably grown timber and demonstrates Smith’s commitment to reducing our carbon footprint. It is also designed to heat and cool off of the central campus geothermal district. The building is using a temporary heat supply this fall and winter, but will tie into the Central Geothermal Energy Plant in the fall of 2026. Kathleen McCartney Hall will secure LEED Gold and has many sustainable features built into both the building and landscape that will serve Smith well in the years to come.

We have worked with programs that will be most impacted by ongoing construction to plan for and mitigate impacts to the greatest extent possible. Thank you all for your continued patience, cooperation, and support as we make progress on this remarkable project. Acting against climate change is a community-wide endeavor, and this geothermal energy project is bringing the college closer to a renewable, healthy and equitable energy future. Please feel free to reach out with any questions.