The road separating the new Business School and Library complex from the rest of the Beirut campus will soon be added to the campus.

Students, faculty, staff and visitors walking to and from the new premises will no longer have to disrupt traffic, or wait at all, to cross the short but busy stretch that connects Tabbara Street and Father Lammens Street.

The section spanning the width of Orme-Gray Hall will be fenced at both ends and traffic will be rerouted over a street to be built around the Business School and Library complex.

The project will take approximately nine months and $500,000 to complete. It will be possible thanks to a donation from the Alwaleed Bin Talal Humanitarian Foundation, and the Beirut Municipality’s support.

The Municipality granted LAU exclusive rights to the patch of land for 25 years, provided LAU grants two full scholarships per year to excelling students from Beirut.

LAU President Joseph G. Jabbra and former minister Leila El Solh Hmadeh, the foundation’s vice president, laid a cornerstone marking the project’s start on February 16, 2007. The ceremony was attended by Beirut mayor Abdel Menem Al Areess, as well as LAU officials, faculty and staff.