The summer of 2012 will be a busy one for Building and Grounds crews and contractors, as the university undertakes nearly 85 projects to beautify, repair and improve facilities across campus.

The extent of this summer’s To Do list reflects the university’s ongoing commitment to one of the goals of its Vision 2020 plan. Per the recommendations that emerged from that plan, much of this summer’s work will focus on beautifying campus, improving safety and addressing a backlog of important deferred maintenance projects.

“Many of the projects on this year’s list accomplish more than one of those goals,” said Jeff Dauer, director of Capital Budget and Planning for Finance and Facilities. “Projects like painting Huskie Stadium and the field house not only beautify campus, but they protect important pieces of infrastructure. Similarly, replacing broken sidewalks and curbs doesn’t just make campus look better, it makes it safer. We tried to make sure that all of these projects gave us as much bang for the buck as possible.”

The summer schedule includes sidewalk repair and replacement, installation of new walkways, upgrades to lighting in public areas, new benches and trash cans, building exterior washing and improvements to various parking lots. Deferred maintenance projects will include major upgrades to the badly outdated electrical system on the east side of campus.

In addition to all of that, some of the biggest projects involve completion of a new residence hall and the modernizing and remodeling of two others.