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2020-21 BEAR NECESSITIES
Crews tear up the historic bricks on the Oval in preparation for their replacement on June 29, 2020. The bricks are being replaced with stamped concrete. Knife River of Missoula was awarded the UM brick walkway construction project. Photo courtesy of Tommy Martino/University Relations
Turning of the Stone: UM replaces bricks, paves new Oval walkways UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA
This summer, the historic brick walkways of the University of Montana’s Oval got a facelift, thanks to a large-scale reconstruction project in the heart of campus. What used to be clunky and timeworn bricks that made riding bikes, rushing to class or wheelchair accessibility difficult, is now stamped, smooth concrete, leaving behind generations of stubbed toes and careful balancing on the iconic and beloved paths. “The problem was so many of them had become damaged from years of the freeze-thaw cycle,” said Kevin Krebsbach, director of UM Facility Services. “It caused most of them to settle and create hazards.” Funds for the $250,000 infrastructure investment,
awarded to Knife River of Missoula, were made available from a university bond sale last year that generated $63 million earmarked for investments in student-serving infrastructure and capital improvements. The new concrete is textured to resemble bricks, reflecting UM’s classical aesthetic and original design. The walkways didn’t exist at UM until 1969, when the bricks — originally laid in downtown Missoula streets between 1912 and 1914 — were removed and installed on campus as crossways that run east-west and northsouth on the Oval. The first 80 years of campus lacked walkways across the Oval, and it was considered taboo
