Student safety
As drivers are aware, construction causes inconvenience.
Just as the sight of orange-striped cones on the freeway induces in hurried drivers fits of rage, the fencing along the pedestrian walkway leading from Ojibway Court to Broomfield Road induces student aggravation.
But construction is a necessary part of maintaining road systems and improving and developing the CMU campus.
Rockford Construction Company, contracted to build the Woldt Towers, has done what it can to assure safety by building a fence and maintaining a strip of pavement running south along the east side of the South Quad.
It isn’t an ideal situation. The pathway is significantly thinner than the road-sized walkway students are accustom to.
But in order to get the project started — and completed by the fall of 2006 — the walkway had to be demolished so crews could relocate the sanitary sewer, a preliminary construction step.
Now the project has begun, there is little the company can do to assure pedestrians stay safe but maintain the fencing surrounding the site.
University and construction officials could have considered delaying the project start until the end of the spring semester, but a delayed start could delay the halls’ opening.
Judging from the timeliness of recent CMU projects — the field hockey team had to play two scheduled home games away because its field wasn’t ready until more than a month after its projected completion date, contractors need all the head start they can get.
Until the pathway can be reopened, students and drivers will have to be careful while driving or walking on or around Ojibway Court.
If students feel uncomfortable venturing near the site, there are other campus sidewalks. Take a detour.
