Although the project will mean major inconvenience for faculty, staff and students, once the dust settles, members of the university community should find both campuses to be more comfortable places to live and work, according to University Facilities staff.

Updates on construction schedules, including dates for parking lot and road closures, will be posted on the University Facilities Web site at http://wings. buffalo.edu/services/fac/

The project, with a price tag of more than $4 million, will include repairing and replacing sidewalks, repaving parking lots, milling (removing the surface) and repaving various roadways, repairing roofing, upgrading fire alarms and repairing building entryways, as well as rerouting Blue Bird buses on the South Campus.

"There's no way to do this many projects without some inconvenience," said Richard F. Noll, manager of planning and programming for University Facilities.

"We're asking that people look at the final product at the end of the summer. We think they'll find that both campuses are more comfortable to live and work on."

Noll and Kevin Thompson, director for planning and design for University Facilities, outlined the individual projects to be completed this summer on the South Campus:

- Replacement of the concrete sidewalk along Main Street from the south end of campus near St. Joseph's University Church to Allen Drive. A new stamped-concrete walk resembling red bricks, similar to the walk along Bailey Avenue and on the west side of Main Street in front of local businesses, will be installed. The three major pedestrian entries to campus will be landscaped, a scaled-down version of a suggestion from students in a studio course taught in the Fall semester by Hiro Hata, associate professor of architecture.

- Repair and replacement of about 25-35 percent of the sidewalks on the South Campus. This project, which is estimated to cost around $1.1 million, will focus on the perimeters of campus "to hopefully improve our image and project the sense that we are sensitive to community concerns; we're making good on our promise to spruce up the campus,"

Thompson said. Noll added, "We are demonstrating that UB is not abandoning the South Campus," as some critics have complained.

- Repaving of the Parker parking lot, which accommodates 450-500 cars, and extending the lot to provide parking for Beck Hall, the home of the Institute for Local Governance and Regional Growth.

- Repaving of the Goodyear parking lot

- Milling and resurfacing Hayes Road from the Main Circle to the Central Heating Plant and Service Building at Rotary Road

- Milling and repaving the Michael Road and Allen Hall entries to campus

- Construction of a 12-slot drop-off lane along Clement Road in front of the UB Child Care Center

- Demolition of the "white storage barn" on Bailey Avenue adjacent to Rotary Field, and Parker Annex. The annex will not be demolished until the fall.

- Rerouting of Blue Bird buses on South Campus. Buses currently drop off/pick up students at a stop at Michael Road, proceed to a stop on Diefendorf Loop and exit campus at Michael Road. The new route will have buses entering campus at Clement Road, stopping at Goodyear Hall and proceeding along Hayes Road to a new shelter to be built near Foster Hall. Buses will exit campus at the rapid-transit station.

This new configuration will "get traffic out of the middle of campus" and alleviate problems buses have in making a left turn from Michael Road onto Bailey Avenue as they head back to North Campus, Noll pointed out.

Thompson said that various campus constituencies have reviewed the new route and "everybody's on board." He notes that the new route will serve students better because it will pick up and drop off students near the South Campus dorms, rather than along Bailey Avenue. Moreover, the new stop at Foster Hall, near the Main Circle, will benefit commuters who take rapid transit to Buffalo or Metro buses to Amherst, he said, calling it a "natural blending of functions."

In addition to the UB projects, Thompson said that the NFTA plans a major renovation project involving its "park and ride" lot along Main Street.

University Facilities also will do some sidewalk and roadway work on the North Campus, although the project is not nearly as extensive as the work to be done on South Campus.

That work will include repairing and replacing damaged sidewalks, including adding curb cuts, around Coventry Circle, Putnam Way, the Governors Residence Halls and the Ellicott Complex; milling and repaving the Rensch Road entry to campus from Sweet Home Road to the Audubon Parkway and repairing St. Rita's Lane and paving a gravel parking lot that serves Baird Point. The lot will provide parking for the North Campus site of the UB Child Care Center, which will be built this summer.

University Facilities also has started the so-called "Capen Garden" construction, the landscaping of three plots of turf on the north side of Capen Hall with flowers, trees and an elevated wall.

Noll noted that the university is in the final stages of accepting the design for new signage on both campus. The long-term project, which probably will not begin until the end of the summer or the beginning of fall, will improve signage at the gateways to the campuses, improve the "way-finding" system and improve the building-identification system.

Thompson noted that while there is no doubt the construction projects will inconvenience faculty, staff, students and visitors to both campuses, University Facilities will try to minimize that inconvenience as best it can.

"We feel these improvements will result in long-term benefits to the university community," he said.