Photos by JUSTIN COOK The Roanoke Times

Virginia Tech's new basketball training facility along Washington Street — one of several construction projects on campus this summer — is nearing completion.

Some of the busiest people at Virginia Tech are construction workers, who absolutely must finish roadwork around campus — including the traffic circle at Washington Street and West Campus Drive — before more than 27,000 students return next week.

| Tonia Moxley

tonia.moxley@roanoke.com, 381-1675

It's that time of year.

Students are raiding Wal-Marts and Targets for those can't-do-without clip-on lamps, futon sofas and mini-fridges.

Parents are sweating tuition payments.

Professors are polishing their syllabuses.

Bookstore clerks are stocking shelves with expensive new textbooks.

Administrators are deserting in droves, taking those last precious summer vacation days before the onslaught.

But some of the busiest people at Virginia Tech are construction workers, who absolutely must finish roadwork around campus before more than 27,000 students return next week. One particular project that includes underground infrastructure work along Washington Street is running at breakneck pace, spokesman Mark Owczarski said.

About 9,000 students will be moving into dorms beginning Wednesday. They and their parents will park -- some illegally -- and heft, haul and curse those futons and mini-fridges into elevators and up narrow staircases, bickering and swearing all the way.

Freshmen will be reveling in their newfound freedoms, although those who move into older dorms will likely worry a bit about sharing a bathroom with dozens of strangers. Little tip: Wear cheap rubber flip-flops in the shower.

Returning students, however, will notice several changes to their campus. Among them:

n A full third of the commuter parking lot along Prices Fork Road will be closed, as crews work to build a 1,200-space parking deck there. That part of the lot, near Perry Street, will remain closed for nearly two years.

n Part of Ambler Johnston Hall is closed for renovations.

n New Residence Hall 1 will open to students but still awaits a donor to put his or her name on it.

n Dietrick Dining Center has been partially remodeled.

n Pritchard Hall, traditionally the most notorious all-male dorm, has been transformed to coed housing and will feature two new themed housing communities -- one focused on service learning and another on sustainable living.

n Theatre 101 on Henderson Lawn at College Avenue is nearing completion and is expected to open in October.

n Two major campus intersections along Prices Fork Road have been widened and reconfigured and now include bicycle lanes.

n The new basketball training facility along Washington Street is nearing completion.

n Site work has begun behind Litton Reeves Hall for a new Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science building. When completed, it will bring the number of ICTAS facilities to three and provide more than 200,000 square feet of research space for that program.

n Students looking for coffee to fuel late-night studying can get it at the Newman Library cafe expected to open this semester.