The Williston-Adams Corridor will link the Wirtz Quadrangle with the King Memorial Commons after getting a facelift this summer.

Patricia Perkins, NIU assistant vice president of Finance and Planning, said the $169,000 project will improve the safety and flow of pedestrian traffic.

“The corridor is critical to the east-west pedestrian spine as identified in the Campus Master Plan,” she said. The plan is NIU’s long-range schedule of building and landscape improvements designed by Massachusetts consultants Sasaki and Associates.

“As the commons and quadrangle improvements become a reality, it was apparent the corridor between the two areas also needs to be improved,” Perkins said.

The corridor renovation project is part of a multi-phase plan to connect heavily traveled pedestrian traffic areas, Perkins said.

The pedestrian thoroughfare will include landscaping, wide sidewalks, lighting and redesigned parking areas.

The service drive between Williston Hall and Adams Hall will be replaced by a wide sidewalk able to accommodate emergency vehicles, Perkins said.

“The project will begin in late June and will be completed before snow flies next fall.”

The commons renovation also is part of this project and will begin following the mid-May demolition of the Wirtz House. The commons also will be finished and ready by next semester, Perkins said.

The project was approved by the Board of Regents and is paid for by Capital Repairs and Institutional Funds.

The project also will improve the area’s appearance by providing an “aesthetic link between between two very heavily traveled thoroughfares,” Perkins said.

Because the commons is a major crossroad for east-west campus traffic and the Wirtz quadrangle is the northern focal point of the east part of campus, “a beautiful and functional link is needed to join the central part of campus with the west,” she said.