Morning construction irks students

College sophomore Jason Fulton scheduled his classes to begin at noon throughout the week so he could enjoy sleeping the morning away. Yesterday, however, the pounding vibrations of jackhammers and drills startled the High Rise North resident out of his slumber at 7 a.m. when the Danella Construction Corporation began a project expected to last at least 10 working days. Bell Atlantic contracted the construction company to replace conduits and lay new cables on 39th Street between Walnut and Spruce streets. And according to Danella foreman Nick Tenaglia, his company's standard working hours -- from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday -- will not change despite Superblock residents' schedules. "They will be waking up early this week," Tenaglia said. "But it is for progress -- any growth in communication would affect you positively." The cables that run down 39th Street have deteriorated since they were put in during the 1920s, according to Ceil Trusello, Bell Atlantic's assistant manager for Outside Facilities and Engineering. And Trusello added that the construction now taking place will allow for "better service." "We do apologize for any inconvenience," she said. "But this is so we don't have any out of service problems -- and we've had a few problems in the last year or so." Although Tenaglia said he hoped to complete the construction within 10 days, he added that it could take longer than that. "You don't know what you're going to encounter," he said. "We could run into some ancient Indian artifact and could be out here forever." But no matter how long the project lasts, students said they are unhappy with their less than melodious wake-up call. "I was pretty pissed," Fulton said. "It looks like the next 10 days are going to be pretty miserable." He added that he wished the companies involved had waited until the students had completed finals and left Superblock. "They waited 70 years, they could wait another three weeks," he said. "Why couldn't they wait for the summer to do this?" Others said they just wished Danella Construction would change its work hours. "They should tell these people not to start working until nine or something," Engineering senior Jose Molina-Paez said. "They have to do it at another time." Molina, who lives in High Rise East, said if he wakes up because of the noise today, he plans to call Residential Living to complain. Gordon Rickards, Residential Living assistant director for safety, security and facilities, said Residential Living did not know about the planned construction until the department's employees came to work yesterday. "We have a definite problem with their start time," he said, adding that Residential Living has received numerous complaints from students about the noise. Rickards added that he plans to talk with University officials and others dealing with the project to see if the construction's timing can be changed.