Over the summer, construction crews will continue working on a variety of campus projects, including landscaping the open space in front of Green Library, putting the finishing touches on the McMurtry Building for the Department of Art & Art History and installing two roundabouts on Campus Drive.

The new roundabouts will be located at the intersections of Santa Teresa Street and Campus Drive West, and at Bowdoin Street and Campus Drive East. Motorists should expect occasional delays at those intersections. The new roundabouts are expected to open in the fall, before the start of the new school year.

Currently, crews are clearing the areas around the intersections to prepare the sites for the roundabouts, which control car, bike and pedestrian traffic. They are part of a project to upgrade intersections on the Campus Drive loop over the next few years.

“Roundabouts provide a much more efficient and safer intersection for all modes of transportation,” said Jack Cleary, associate vice president for land, buildings and real estate, citing the success of the university’s first roundabout at Escondido Road and Campus Drive East, which opened last fall.

The roundabouts are two of several construction projects that will affect traffic on campus over the summer.

For detailed information on summer construction projects, including advice on how to navigate safely around campus on foot or on wheels, visit Stanford’s HEADS UP website or subscribe to its weekly email newsletter. HEADS UP offers detailed information on projects in each quadrant of campus.

Northwest campus

This summer, crews will prepare the site and install utilities for the new Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Biology Research Building, which will be located across Campus Drive West from the James H. Clark Center.

The Bass Biology Research Building will support the work of faculty members, doctoral students and postdoctoral scholars engaged in biochemistry and computational research projects. It is expected to receive design approval from the Stanford University Board of Trustees in October.

The project will affect travel in the following areas:

• Campus Drive West will reduce to one lane in each direction between Via Ortega and Roth Way, near the Clark Center.
• The North-South Axis between Serra Mall and North Service Road – between the Gates Computer Science Building and the Gilbert Biological Sciences Building – will be closed to vehicles.
• Portions of Roth Way, Serra Mall and Via Pueblo near Via Palou and the North-South Axis will reduce to one lane.

In that same neighborhood, construction continues at the McMurtry Building for the Department of Art & Art History, which will formally open in October. Crews are landscaping the grounds and installing drywall, interior finishes, the exterior building skin and window systems.

Nearby, Stanford is restoring and transforming the 118-year-old Old Chemistry Building into the Science Teaching and Learning Center, which will be devoted to undergraduate science education.

In addition, Stanford is installing underground utilities below the Sand Hill Athletics Field for the West Campus Stormwater Detention Basin. The field has been partially closed to use since late May.

Northeast campus

Construction is underway on the Stanford Perimeter Trail. The 3.4-mile trail – along Junipero Serra, Stanford Avenue and El Camino Real – will feature improved trails, bike lanes on both sides of the roadways and vehicle parking.

As part of the project, the Dish will close July 13 to Aug. 16.

The project will affect traffic on Stanford Avenue:

• Stanford has closed eastbound traffic on Stanford Avenue between Junipero Serra Boulevard and Raimundo Way through Aug. 16. During construction, Stanford Avenue will be one-way westbound, toward the foothills.
  

Southwest campus

In addition to the Santa Teresa roundabout, construction continues on the Panama Mall Office Building, located at the intersection of Panama Mall and Lomita Mall.

The project will affect traffic on Panama Mall:

• Panama Mall is closed to vehicles in front of the Mitchell Earth Sciences Building and the Peterson Building – home of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design – through July.
• Bicyclists are asked to walk their bikes in front of Mitchell and Peterson.
• Lomita Mall between Panama Mall and Santa Teresa Street is limited to pedestrian traffic.

Nearby, sidewalks are closed behind Roble Gym while Stanford renovates the building inside and out. Crews could recently be seen installing a new red tile roof on the building, which was built in 1931 as a women’s gymnasium. Roble Gym will house the Department of Theater & Performance Studies (TAPS) with the Division of Dance. The renovated facility will include the Stanford Arts Gym, a one-of-a-kind drop-in art-making studio and performing arts space. Boasting a flexible space for everything from informal performances to theatrical rehearsals to video production, the gym will be a hub for arts practice for students.

When it reopens in 2016, Roble Gym will feature a black box theater with flexible seating arrangements for dramatic works and a renovated dance studio for rehearsals and productions in dance, as well as additional spaces for rehearsals and instruction.

Next door to Roble Gym, construction continues on a five-level underground garage at Roble Field, which will be restored to recreational use after the garage is completed. The fence along Santa Teresa Street has several peepholes for passersby to look at the deep hole dug for the garage, which is expected to open next summer.

Across the street from Roble Gym and Roble Field, construction continues on two new undergraduate residences at Lagunita Court.

Southeast campus

In addition to the Bowdoin roundabout, work continues on the new Humanities Theme Residence, which will become the fourth student residence hall in Manzanita Park when it opens in mid-August. The new house is designed to serve as a residential, cultural and intellectual hub for humanities programs and activities at Stanford.

Nearby, on Serra Street, across the street from the Knight Management Center, crews are working on Highland Hall, which will house nearly all of the first-year students attending the Graduate School of Business by 2016.

With Meyer Library demolished and the crushed concrete carted away, crews are landscaping the open space in front of Green Library for landscaping. It will have walkways, benches and gentle slopes surrounded by trees. It is scheduled to open in December.

Advice no matter where you are

No matter where you are traveling on campus this summer, the advice is the same:

• Look up from your cell phone near construction sites.
• Pay attention to your surroundings as you walk, run, bike or drive around campus.
• Anticipate detours in construction areas and follow the directions of the flaggers.
• If you’re riding a bike, follow the rules of the road – stop at signs.
• Allow a little more time than usual to travel on campus.