Status Report Archive
Check this page to view archived photos and project details describing the Colby Green construction process. Click on the photos for a larger view.

The first full week of October promises to be the last week of extensive work on phase one of the Colby campus expansion around the Colby Green. By the end of that week the only workers on the site should be landscapers finishing up plantings. Project Manager Steve Campbell said that odds and ends of paving and seeding remained as the month began, but the new crosswalks on Mayflower Hill Drive should be painted and most tasks wrapped up in time for the ceremonial opening of the Colby Green, following the Wesleyan football game on October 9. A walk-through with a punch-list, where College officials, contractors, and architects review the work and enumerate remaining issues, is scheduled following October 9, but Phase I will be finished on schedule.

The Colby Green turned green on August 25 and 26, when workers rolled out 90,000 square feet of Maine sod to cover the elliptical lawn. Andrew Drummond '05 recorded the effort as a time-lapse video, and seeing the two days of work condensed is worth the minute that it takes.

Though the lawn has been sodded, work continues and the entire area will remain a construction site until mid-September. A granite retaining wall will be built between Mayflower Hill Drive and the edge of the green, handrails need to be installed on granite steps already in place, and areas adjacent to the Colby Green proper still needed to be graded and seeded as September began. The permanent pathway from the new parking lots behind Lunder to the crosswalk in front of Eustis will be completed during the first week of September.

Sometime in mid-September the construction zone will shrink to a smaller area around the Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center. At that time the Colby Green will open for general access and its intended uses -- walking, Frisbee games, outdoor classes etc.

August 2004

The next progress update on the Colby Green you see here will actually have green in the photo. Project Manager Steve Campbell said in early August: "By the twenty-ninth it will be green," predicting that underground work will be completed, the green will be shaped, and grass will be growing on the site by the end of the month.

Recent activity includes considerable blasting around the Lunder building since the parking lot between Lunder and Mayflower Hill Drive was decommissioned in July. Some of the new parking lots behind the admissions building have been in use, and a temporary paved walkway connects those lots with the main academic quadrangle.

Work scheduled in August includes installation of remaining underground pipes and conduits, storm drains, manholes, and granite steps as well as more earth moving. The second half of the month will see the final shape of Colby Green emerge and paving of permanent roadways and paths. Despite some delays resulting from wet weather the project remains on schedule.

• Sodding of the Colby Green (08/24-26)
• Construction of the Schair-Swenson-Watson Alumni Center

To watch these movies, you'll need Apple's Quicktime Player. Download it here.

A special thanks goes to Andrew S. Drummond '05 for filming these time-lapse movies.

A special thanks goes to Andrew S. Drummond '05 for filming these time-lapse movies.

The lawns and paths of the green have taken shape and landscaping is underway along the north access road and parking lot. Paving of the roadways and parking lots will begin by the end of the month. Progress on the foundation and utilities for the alumni center is now clearly visible from Mayflower Hill Drive. During the next month, most of the dirt piles will disappear revealing the true shape of the green.

The three ponds and the wetlands that handle site runoff have their final contours and planting is almost done. Four of the largest trees were scheduled to arrive on Friday, May 7.

Throughout May the green will continue to take shape:

• A large portion will be loamed and seeded.
• Substantial progress will be made on landscaping.
• Paving of parking areas and roads should begin near the end of the month.

As of mid-December, Colby Green Project Manager Steve Campbell reported that about 5 percent of the project's approximately 60,000 cubic yards of soil has been put in place. Blasting will continue through January, mostly to make trenches for utilities, including sewer lines. Dynamite also will be used to excavate pits in the bedrock so future trees will have sufficient soilfor their roots. The utilities earthwork is expected to continue through February, when workers anticipate a pause during the hardest of the winter freeze-up.