Tunnels at Waterloo

The least favourite part of my day is the 15 minute walk in -10 (average) centigrade climate to get to the different buildings where my lectures are held. Before I knew my way around campus I would walk what I thought to be the most direct route to each destination -- which after time proved to be the longest route possible. Most people think I'm severely directionally challenged. Lately, I've taken to a longer but much warmer trek through various buildings around campus. It took a long time, but I finally found the perfect resource for that.

The University Of Waterloo Floor Plan Page...

Found here: http://plantoperations.uwaterloo.ca/floor_plans/

is a collection of all faculty and plant building blue prints (per se) on the University Of Waterloo campus. After acquiring some basic floor plan knowledge I figured out what everything meant and was easily able to plot travel with minimal outdoor exposure.

However, the one part that intrigued me the most is the hint of a mother load of campus transportation.

See, rumour has it that Waterloo buildings are connected by an extensive grid of service tunnels that are easily accessible with some simple, clever tactics. After reading the floor plans I figured out where most of the tunnels should be and then did what any good student should do; googled it.

Low and behold there is an fascinating website by a former student (found here; http://matt.wandel.ca/tunnels/tunnels.html ) that illustrates his exploration of said tunnels!

Apparently, there is a massive "grid" that supplies the residences and tunnels that stem from that to just about any building on campus. There is even a tunnel that gets to Needles Hall -- the administrative building that holds student accounts and marks!

This all makes sense seeing as how Waterloo is heated by a central plant that shunts steam (and other things I'd imagine) to the basements.

So being the freezing cold and daring student I am -- I was tempted to try and decipher the mystery and get in to the tunnel system. Unfortunately, the system is locked down with welded hatches and un-pickable super security deadbolts(one of which is on my ex-roomate's door.) Going down there would be incredibly risky but I can't help wonder about the satisfaction of completing such a legendary feat.

The idea of a mysterious series of catacombs fascinates me. It also frustrates me -- but in a positive way. It's like considering life beyond earth or a secret society ruling the world. I can only imagine the properties of this fairy tale place -- which (due to it's oppression by the university) rubs off as dark, secretive, and powerful.

An estimate map of the tunnels can be found here