Chirping birds, lawnmowers humming, bulldozers slinging dirt and the smell of fresh asphalt — that’s springtime in Michigan.

Starting as early as May 1, campus will undergo some important infrastructure repairs as well as some cosmetic maintenance, with projects lasting well into the fall.

The weekend after classes officially end and move-outs begin will mark the first steps in replacing the culvert that lies between Oak View Hall and the Ann V. Nicholson and George T. Mathews apartments near Ravne Drive.

Brian Bierley, Oakland University’s director of media relations said that replacement of the culvert was absolutely necessary, and summer is the perfect time to make the fix.

“The road is going to fall down if we don’t do something,” he said, “and right now there are big steel pipes underneath [it].”

Bierley said that the drain had worn out over the last 50 years due to erosion of its material from the natural stream that runs through that area.

“The current culvert is made of corrugated metal,” said Brian Ward, a project manager with OU Facilities Management who is overseeing the culvert repair.

“We’re replacing [the culvert] with a 10-foot by nine-foot concrete pipe that should be able to handle all the water,” he said.

Ward estimates that the lifespan of this new culvert will be around 100 years, due to the fact that the material will better withstand erosion and will not rust.

Students on campus are familiar with the beautiful sloping path that leads from the apartments up toward the rest of campus overlooking the lush ravine on either side, and Ward said that all construction on the culvert will fall within Michigan Department of Environmental Quality guidelines in order to maintain the area’s natural beauty.

“We’ll do some stream reconstruction to slow down the flow of water to make sure there is no further erosion,” Ward said. “We’ll also add a few step pools to give fish area to swim if needed.”

As the integrity of the wild land will be maintained throughout the construction process, the same cannot be said of Meadowbrook Drive.

Bierley said that between May and June, crews will be digging up the portion of Meadowbrook Drive overlooking the culvert, creating challenges for students moving out of the dorms or apartments.

The road could be closed until October 1, Bierley said, posing major challenges for new students moving in as well.

During move-in and move-out times, the parking lot around Oak View Hall will serve as a kind of “loop” so that students and their belongings can be efficiently dropped off with traffic flow maintained, allowing cars to exit campus without using Meadowbrook Drive.

“If you want to get to the east side of campus [during construction], come in on Walton closest to the Meadowbrook Festival entrance,” Bierley said. “If you want to get to the west side of campus, come in using West Oakland Drive from Walton or University Drive.”

In addition to the replacement of the culvert between Meadowbrook Drive and Ravine Drive, there will be various repaving projects occurring simultaneously, including portions of P1, West Oakland Drive and a large stretch from the Human Health Building to North Foundation Hall.

But there is a silver lining to this cloud of construction.

“As long as we’re digging in this area,” Bierley said, “we’re running another power line in.”

All of the utility lines running to and from the apartments and up toward the rest of campus travel along Meadowbrookk Drive and Bierley said that Facilities Management is taking this construction season as an opportunity to prepare for future expansion.

Additional utility lines will be laid while the road is being worked on so that if and when the time comes to build more space for more students, the groundwork will already have been laid.