<p>I saw the construction of this phase of the SEC back in early March, and it was already looking impressive, half finished. Those of us who remember what this part of campus used to look like, can’t help but be amazed by the changes taking place on this side of campus. It really used to be quite the eyesore. </p>
<p>This phase is just part of the exciting future for new students at UA. Phase four will be under construction very soon. As an alum from the late 80s and early 90s, I’m kinda jealous. This truly is a fantastic time to be a student at Bama.</p>
<p>Thanks for the link Atlanta. I remember when there was nothing really between Ferguson Center and Rose towers except for Paty Hall. It’s amazing what has happened with the north side of campus these past 15 years.</p>
<p>But it was probably the ugliest part of campus. Just the backs of several buildings, some parking lots, some railroad tracks and utiliy poles/wires. I lived in an old dorm Abercrombie which sat across McCorvey from Paty with another old dorm Saffold. There was a decent sized quad between the two dorms and the MIB. I wish that they would take the parking lot and replace it with a lawn. BTW, I lived in Abercrombie back in the early '80’s and it didn’t have air conditioning but I wouldn’t trade my days living there for anything. I believe these two dorms were torn down in the late '80’s/early 90’s.</p>
<p>It had to have been torn down prior to 87 cause those two buildings weren’t there when I arrived in 87. By the way, look at the Master Plan, and you will see that the area in front of MIB will be a new quad at some point in the future. Anyone have photo updates of the SEC phase 3 under construction?</p>
<p>When was the L&N rail road removed? I remember an old chunk of the road running along Campus Dr east of the main Bryce entrance even up to the early '00s.</p>
<p>In the late '80’s if IIRC. It was still be used a little in the early '80’s when I was a student. It paralleled Campus Drive and there was a huge trestle just west of the Ferguson Parking deck that it crossed. West of there, there was a big ditch that it went through that had several bridges that crossed. Although the bridges are gone (they were replaced with fill and then paved over) but you can still see the ditch in places. These old bridges were made of wood and had a big hump and there were a couple there as well as a few on the western side of downtown. We nicknamed them ■■■■■ Bridges.</p>
<p>I wish there were pics of the new Science and Engineering complex that gave a better feel for how large it is. I realize that it’s size is one of the reasons why it’s hard to capture how big the complex really is. A pic here or there will show an angle of one building…it’s almost like there needs to be some kind of video to put its size into perspective.</p>