The daily hustle of construction workers building new facilities, student and public safety enhancements and major renovations is nothing new to City College students.
With the help of a construction bond program funded by two propositions — Proposition S, a $685 million bond passed in 2002, and Proposition N, $870 million  passed in 2006 — the San Diego Community College District has been able to renovate buildings to a degree and create a brand new campus.
On Jan. 20, City College celebrated the groundbreaking of a future science building. The  98,000 square foot construction zone located between streets 16th and B will house a four story L-shaped building that is scheduled for completion by June 30, 2013.
“The groundbreaking ceremony went very well, and the students, faculty and district administration in attendance were excited to see this project begin construction,” said Tom Fine, campus project manager.
Buildings currently under construction include the math and social sciences building, expected to be completed on Aug. 31, and the business and humanities building, expected to be completed July 31, 2013.
San Diego building codes restrict  building within 50 feet of an active fault.
Because downtown is in a seismic zone it is essential to analyze faults by digging trenches to determine whether or not already existing buildings renovated to fit the same occupancy or more.
Buildings that are currently in the early stages of planning have to undergo a fault hazard analysis to identify potentially active and active faults.
“To date, all fault trenching has been done during the winter break, so it has not impacted the normal operations of the City College campus. We do anticipate having to dig one more trench for this fault hazard analysis, however it is going to be done in the public right of way in Russ Boulevard. While there will be an impact to the vehicular traffic in this area, we will make every attempt to avoid impacting the normal operations of City College,” said Fine.
When construction is completed, City College will have seven new teaching and learning facilities and seven major renovations able to accommodate 25,000 students.