About a year ago, if I had stood up and said “I enjoy walking to class from College Ave.,” I don’t think many students would have challenged my statement. RPI has done a lot to take care of the campus greenery, particularly around the area near the VCC, which I frequent for its well-laid paths and easy navigation. Recently, however, through no one’s fault in particular, walking through that area of campus has become more of an adventure.
Each day I walk through the ever-changing landscape at the construction site behind the parking garage, wondering if I will get to use those brand new sidewalks, or if the cement mixer will force me to skip through the 1/7,900,000th-scale replica of the Yellow River directly opposite. And if I forget my galoshes, will that BMW still splash me as it careens toward the DCC?
Assuming we successfully make it through the construction course without getting eliminated, we’re on to challenge number two, which actually bothers me more than the mud and the construction. That challenge? Walk to class without getting hit by some sort of utility vehicle on those previously-mentioned well-laid paths.
Apparently, placing a gate on the Sage Ave. entrance has diverted traffic to College Ave.’s entrance where, un-gated, it serves as a bastion of hope for those motorists wanting to shave off a few seconds from their Greene Building rally. Back in the days of an impedance-free drive through the Sage entrance, us College Ave. walkers didn’t really need to worry about things like reaction time and peripheral vision while on the way to class.
Don’t get me wrong, I can’t blame the gate for everything, as part of the blame rests on the shoulders of the 8th St. hill climb, which I doubt my little 4-cylinder could successfully make. I’m just saying that I can’t wait for construction to be finished, so that College Ave. can be a safe place again.
There are certain months of the year when drivers from UPS, FedEx, and other parcel delivery companies strike fear within the souls of the RPI pedestrian, and I’ve come to expect this. Generally, this time falls between the start of Chrismas shopping and the time I actually start buying something for my family. These drivers will stop at nothing to deliver their cargo without losing weeks of sleep and family face-time! Currently, we are not within that timeframe, but I have seen people dive in the soaked earth to avoid losing a laptop—not to avoid a UPS truck—but because an Intro to Management student has her friend drive her to class so she doesn’t ruin her suit/presentation/life by walking to her final class instead.
As a suggestion to RPI, perhaps try to begin limiting car and “utility vehicle” access on campus now, and enforce the use of the Sage gate for traffic. Or at least create a mini Three Gorges Dam in the mini Yellow Sea so I have something to look at when covered in mud.
