The only marginally encouraging campus transportation moment I can remember in the past year was my realization the morning of the Krispy Kreme Challenge that participants were being guided toward the campus’s parking decks instead of the relatively ample Central Campus parking area. My parking spot in front of the 1911 Building was certainly not a source of pride, but, perhaps, a minor victory.
When was the last time you could even claim that much satisfaction in your campus travels?
I probably caught most of you with my trick question. There are almost no positive travel experiences on campus — I can only recall that one from the past four years.
Some of the catalysts for the problems are completely outside the University’s control. The location of the new Hillsborough Street two-lane traffic circle at Oberlin Road is one of the vital conduits into downtown Raleigh; the administration can do little to help that. And Transportation can’t really change the suburban-style sprawl of off-campus housing.
One of the biggest hindrances to effective movement on campus is completely within our control, though. The cars — like mine, the morning of the KKC — are a problem.
The University Master Plan, the blithely unrealistic schedule of campus improvements, has plans to clear out many of the cars in the area of Broughton, Lampe and Stinson Drive (the rough area that borders the Brickyard on the east, Patterson Hall on the north and the railroad tracks on the south).
Many of the plan’s visions — the monorail between Main and Centennial Campus, for instance — are nothing more than a pipedream. Campus beautification and renewal projects are vital to improving the University’s image and the general “feel” of campus; it must happen sooner rather than later.
The quadrangle formed around Burlington Hall, which was an open locale before the addition of nuclear material, has an opportunity to expand the general concept of the Brickyard and form several boulevards through campus. Without automobiles, one of the core areas of North Campus could become a pedestrian haven.
It could completely change the campus and prompt the trickle-down effects a peaceful environment yields.
The problem is that any pedestrian-centric system requires the campus community to rethink transit. Pedestrian-centric what? It’s a really big word for small changes that can do really big things for the campus. (P.J. King knows what I’m talking about — see bearded actor from N.C. State “bridge” commercial.)
In all seriousness, and because University transit is laughable enough without my help, we need fundamental changes to the way we move.
A program like WolfWheels, a new campus bike share program set to kick off in March, is a great example of a relatively inexpensive change we could make today and change the way students travel.
In places like Amsterdam — where trams have replaced many buses and bike-parking decks stand where their car counterparts are in the U.S. — the culture embraced people-friendly transportation long ago.
If the University truly wants to live up to its branding and act as the “autobahn of innovation,” it must attempt to embrace creative transportation solutions that support pedestrians, especially when they already receive so much hassle around the campus’s edges. Hillsborough anyone?
Increased pedestrian areas and a bike share program may sound like small changes, but they can have truly substantive effects — especially if they are effectively implemented as they have been on other college campuses.
At the least, it’s worth trying.
