According to an article in the 6-22-06 edition of the LSU school newspaper, The Reveille, LSU will now become a walking campus starting in the fall 2006 semester. The reason for this change is for both aesthetic and safety reasons. According to LSU Office of Facility Development project manager Dennis Mitchell, it will give LSU the feel of a unified college campus. According to a poll on the LSU Reveille website, 61% of the people say that students should be allowed to drive on campus during school hours while 39% are opposed to it. I am a part of the 39%. If you've never been to the beautiful campus of Louisiana State University, you should visit it. One thing you will notice is that there are two main road that pass directly through campus. One is Highland Road and the other is Nicholson Drive. Neither of these roads will be closed based on the new plan due to the high traffic volumes of these roads. The roads that will be closed are the road exclusive to the campus. I do not have a problem with them being closed to students. On campus there is no "central" parking lot to park in. All of our parking lots are located around the out skirts of campus. The only parking lots located in the center of campus are for faculty. The less people driving around campus the easier it will be for pedestrians to move around campus. If the roads aren't backed up with traffic and the crosswalks blocked, then it will be a lot easier to maneuver around campus. Since students can't park near their classroom buildings anyway, they have no business driving around causing congestion. Another issue is safety. Obviously, the more people on the roadways, the greater the chances of pedestrians getting injured. I can't count how many times per semester I have to hurry through a crosswalk because of the angry, impatient student drivers on campus. To sum everything up, I think it is a really good idea. It will keep the pedestrians safer, the campus looking neater and cleaner, and the students in a little bit better shape.
|
