Love them or hate them, colleges are often synonymous to the pervasive sidewalk. Where you have a college campus, there is often a wealth of intertwining sidewalks.
IU Southeast is no exception — we bear no dearth of sidewalks between Knobview Hall and the Activities Building.
Everywhere, sidewalks span as far as the eye can reach in each direction and meander between campus buildings.
That is, however, all sidewalks lead everywhere but off campus.
Don’t believe me?
Try taking a stroll across the bustle of Grant Line Road for lunch, and pedestrians will quickly discover that all sidewalks stop abruptly before intersecting road frontage with a barricade of darting vehicles.
If a pedestrian successfully dodges traffic — unscathed — or timidly retreats to campus, he will note the same concern to the south side of campus when venturing on Southern Drive toward the Athletic Complex.
These sidewalks exist only a few yards beyond the Activities Building — though Hausfeldt Lane accommodates pedestrians with sidewalks.
While IU Southeast straddles a sprawling arterial intersection of restaurants and commerce, I find it appalling and perplexing that all campus paths extend everywhere, yet lead nowhere off campus.
This poses a peril for pedestrian safety.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, pedestrian fatalities accounted for 4,092 of fatalities involving motor vehicle related accidents in 2009.
The state of Indiana endured 50 of those fatal accidents. This unsettling figure increased to 62 fatalities in 2010, or 8 percent of all motor vehicle deaths in Indiana.
This is no isolated or improbable incident.
Two similar and fatal misfortunes occurred in Floyd County in 2010, which involved one recent death of a pedestrian on Grant Line Road in December 2011.
Namely, a motorist struck and killed a 24-year-old male pedestrian while crossing the intersection near Jolissaint Avenue — a segment of roadway absent of sidewalks and intermittent crosswalks.
The pedestrian succumbed to his injuries after a motorist swerved around another vehicle while returning to its original northbound lane.
Not only do sidewalks ensure the safety of all students, but their installation, along with adequate crosswalks, can also spawn a number of benefits for students, faculty and staff.
For instance, sidewalks provide the stepping-stones for a healthier lifestyle.
Studies compiled by the Indiana Alliance for Health Promotion reveal that limited accessibility to sidewalks often discourages pedestrian activity.
Simply put, people are too frightened to walk on untouched territory, much less walk for personal health or leisure.
Therefore, people with better access to accessible sidewalks are more inclined to walk to local establishments.
Sidewalks also spur development as a passageway to the local economy and appreciate neighboring property assessments faster than counterparts without sidewalks.
As a burgeoning residential campus with about 400 residents, this campus necessitates a suitable point of access to surrounding venues, notably with 90 additional on-campus residents in prospect.
This is not to overlook that students reside off campus at Carriage House apartments — a short yet isolated connection across the street.
Safety and economic development aside, Grant Line Road serves as the north and south gateways to the academic community, a beneficial asset in captivating a prospective student’s first impression.
With the installation of landscaped sidewalks with proper aura and lighting, sidewalks initiate the first step of reviving a vapid campus into one teeming with life and, quite possibly, student activity.
While New Albany has taken great strides to improve pedestrian safety and link the communities, Grant Line Road remains to be the sole major throughway in New Albany devoid of sidewalks.
This said, rather than delay the installation of sidewalks in future renovation projects, New Albany and IU Southeast officials need to conjointly step up and tend to the safety of its students and citizens by linking sidewalks and crosswalks on Grant Line Road and Southern Drive.
My advice to current students: incessantly lobby officials to install sidewalks or yield and — at the bare minimum — be on guard and look both ways.
By STEPHEN ALLEN
Features Editor
allen68@imail.iu.edu
