Construction crews are currently in the process of repaving the 100-year-old path that runs through the Quad as part of UC Davis‘ centennial celebration.
Construction began on the new path in the last week of Summer Session I, and will likely be completed at the start of fall quarter. It will not be unveiled, however, until Oct. 15, when it will be commemorated as part of the university‘s Centennial Fall Festival.
“The Quad is the historic and social heart of the campus,” said Bob Segar, assistant vice chancellor for campus planning at UC Davis. “It‘s the place alumni come see when they return to the campus. We hope Centennial Walk will add to the great pride that people feel for UC Davis.“
The new path is designed to emulate the style of the previous walk, but will be approximately twice the width at 12 feet.
It will also feature a border of one-foot wide granite paving stones and brass expansion joints.
“The main part will be concrete, banded and scored the same way as the old walk,” said Skip Mezger, senior landscape architect in charge of the project.
Other significant differences between the old and new path include the addition of a circular slab of concrete 54 feet in diameter near the middle of the path along with two semicircles 92 feet in diameter at either end of the path.
The circle in the middle of the path will be slightly elevated and is intended to be a replacement for a similar feature that was removed sometime in the latter half of the original path’s life.
The two semicircles at either end of the path will be engraved with bronze lettering that reads, “Centennial Walk, dedicated October 15, 2008.“
“The overall look of the walk will be very similar,” Mezger said. “We will be saving two pieces of the old walk to put on display somewhere on campus; we‘re not yet sure where, though.“
Planning for the walk was supervised by Segar and officially began over a year ago.
“[Segar] and [Mezger] had been kicking around the idea of renovating the path for a long time,” said Christina DeMartini Reyes, assistant landscape architect. “But it wasn‘t until this spring that we had professional landscape architects come in to consult with.“
“This is an important area of campus,” she said. “It‘s a high-profile section of campus and it deserves an upgrade.“
The total cost for construction of the new path comes in at approximately $350,000, Segar said.
“The funds come from a Road and Pathway Improvement fund managed by the Campus Planning Office in the Office of Resource Management and Planning,” Segar said.
The Centennial Walk is the only construction project on campus that will be dedicated for the centennial.
Additional planned improvements on the Quad that have not yet been funded include introducing markers at the four ends of the Quad, a plaza on the Quad side of Shields Library and upgrading the lighting on the south and west sides, Segar said.
CHARLES HINRIKSSON can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com.
