A dry winter through late February helped keep Bates’ major construction projects on schedule. Between Alumni Gym and Garcelon Field, steel started going up in late January for the new dining Commons. At the other end of campus, near Mount David, is new student housing, where the top priority was making the three-section building weathertight — getting roofs in place and windows covered — by the end of February.

Connecting the two will be the new Alumni Walk, a major connector that will give the campus a new physical unity by tying east to west and pulling in facilities outside the traditional Quad. The walk will replace the current Andrews Road with twin pedestrian thoroughfares passing through a grove of paper birches.

The new residence opens in August, with the dining Commons opening in January 2008.