(Fall 2011)
By EMILY MOHLER
The stretch of U.S. Highway 93 that runs adjacent to FVCC is one the most heavily traveled roads in the state of Montana, especially during the summer. While adjustments have been made to the stoplight at the school’s main entrance on Grandview enabling easier access to the campus, another traffic light at FVCC’s north entrance isn’t planned.
Studies indicate “a light was simply not justified,” said Ed Toavs, a Montana Department of Transportation construction engineer. “It was a cluster for the traffic on the mainline,”.
The traffic light at the Grandview entrance has been recently upgraded with radar detection and a turn signal.
“The college recently pushed for the new left turn signal for southbound Highway 93 traffic turning onto Grandview which helped with campus access,” said Steve Larson, director of physical facilities at FVCC.
While no major changes are in the works for the school’s current access off Highway 93, much is happening just down the road that will lessen the traffic and congestion in the area.
Alleviating some of the traffic will be U.S. 93 Alternate Route Bypass. The bypass is about 50 percent complete. The state is completing the final right-of-way acquisition and developing interim design options such as rebuilding the intersection at Highway 93 and Reserve to accommodate the bypass traffic. The Department of Transportation is also working with the city of Kalispell and private developers to align the roads accessing the Hutton Ranch Plaza and the large stores on the west side of the highway, just north of the FVCC campus.
A new road, the“Hutton Ranch Connector” is proposed to wind north of Hutton Ranch Road and connect to West Reserve by the Stillwater River bridge acting as a “traffic relieve valve,” Toavs said.
Kalispell-based LHC Inc. has been awarded the contract and will begin construction in November with a completion date planned for late summer 2012.
Increasing congestion on Highway 93 indicates the need is there for the new projects.
In the mid 1990’s there were about 12,000 to 15,000 vehicles passing the school each day. This number has grown to about 40,000 per day, making this section of Highway 93’s traffic flow comparable to some of most traveled roads in the State during peak summer traffic flow. The annual average daily traffic count is slightly less than Main Street in Billings, and neck and neck with Missoula’s North Reserve and 10th Avenue South in Great Falls.
Emily Mohler is a student in Journalism 101C, News Writing and Reporting.
Monday, April 2, 2012
Students build FVCC’s first wood-fired kiln
(Fall 2011)
By RACHEL HAWKINS
Flathead Valley Community College has installed an experimental wood-fired kiln in the Arts and Technology Building. The kiln was built by ceramics instructor David Smith and his students last summer, and is the only wood-fired kiln at the college.
The experimental kiln is considerably smaller than the ceramic’s program’s other two kilns, which are large, down-draft soft-brick kilns.
Smith said the new kiln will expand the firing techniques students can learn.
“One reason we built the experimental wood-fired kiln is that we wanted to use salt and soda and of course wood ash, and all three will deteriorate soft brick kilns,” Smith said.
The kiln is unique in the way that the pieces that go in the kiln come out glazed with wood ash. In the wood-fired kiln the glaze and the clay change color due to the ash from the wood, creating a very unique, natural pattern on the clay. The kiln also provides a little visual history for students on how ceramics would have looked in earlier eras.
“Kilns have always been fired with wood, or in some cases with coal or dung, and people have been firing ceramics for thousands of years,” Smith said.
The kiln is still in its experimental stages and has only been fired twice due to the fact that it is difficult and time consuming to heat. Paula Engle, a ceramics student at FVCC, managed to set the high-temperature record at 2,350 degrees.
Smith said he wants to heat the small wood kiln to around 2,400 degrees or higher. Wood ash does not start to melt into a glaze until above 2,200 degrees, so there is “little point in firing it if we cannot consistently reach 2,400.”
The kiln is soon going to go through some remodeling. Smith said the chimney is too small, restricting airflow and making it harder to heat. A larger chimney encourages more consistent airflow because oxygen is necessary to burn fuel, which in turns make the kiln hotter.
“It will make it easier to maintain high temperatures,” Smith said.
Because of the kiln’s small size, it is easily affected by weather changes. With a bigger chimney the air will keep moving through the kiln regardless of the weather.
“That’s what I love about ceramics,” Smith said. “You can make anything.”
Rachel Hawkins is a student in Journalism 101C, News Writing and Reporting.
By RACHEL HAWKINS
Flathead Valley Community College has installed an experimental wood-fired kiln in the Arts and Technology Building. The kiln was built by ceramics instructor David Smith and his students last summer, and is the only wood-fired kiln at the college.
The experimental kiln is considerably smaller than the ceramic’s program’s other two kilns, which are large, down-draft soft-brick kilns.
Smith said the new kiln will expand the firing techniques students can learn.
“One reason we built the experimental wood-fired kiln is that we wanted to use salt and soda and of course wood ash, and all three will deteriorate soft brick kilns,” Smith said.
The kiln is unique in the way that the pieces that go in the kiln come out glazed with wood ash. In the wood-fired kiln the glaze and the clay change color due to the ash from the wood, creating a very unique, natural pattern on the clay. The kiln also provides a little visual history for students on how ceramics would have looked in earlier eras.
“Kilns have always been fired with wood, or in some cases with coal or dung, and people have been firing ceramics for thousands of years,” Smith said.
The kiln is still in its experimental stages and has only been fired twice due to the fact that it is difficult and time consuming to heat. Paula Engle, a ceramics student at FVCC, managed to set the high-temperature record at 2,350 degrees.
Smith said he wants to heat the small wood kiln to around 2,400 degrees or higher. Wood ash does not start to melt into a glaze until above 2,200 degrees, so there is “little point in firing it if we cannot consistently reach 2,400.”
The kiln is soon going to go through some remodeling. Smith said the chimney is too small, restricting airflow and making it harder to heat. A larger chimney encourages more consistent airflow because oxygen is necessary to burn fuel, which in turns make the kiln hotter.
“It will make it easier to maintain high temperatures,” Smith said.
Because of the kiln’s small size, it is easily affected by weather changes. With a bigger chimney the air will keep moving through the kiln regardless of the weather.
“That’s what I love about ceramics,” Smith said. “You can make anything.”
Rachel Hawkins is a student in Journalism 101C, News Writing and Reporting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)