Concerns about pedestrian safety on campus have increased, particularly along University Drive near the Health and Wellness Center and the Taylor and McClintic-Marshall residence halls, where there isn’t a sidewalk.
Efforts to enhance pedestrian safety, such as the Sayre Loop Pilot Project, are part of Lehigh’s Strategic Plan “Inspiring the Future Makers.” This past spring, the project transformed one lane of Sayre Loop into a one-way street and dedicated the other to pedestrians and bicycles for a week-long trial.
Also, speed bumps were added to University Drive this semester to address previous concerns. However, Catherine Swerdloff, ’28, who lives in Taylor House, said she often witnesses cars swerving around them to avoid slowing down.
“The traffic along this road is really dangerous because the cars go really, really fast, and a lot of them don’t use turn signals or look where they’re going,” Swerdloff said.
The university held a Campus Planning Open House on April 18 to gather input from the Lehigh community after the pilot phase of the project finished.
The Sayre Loop Project has since been put on hold. Nancy Rogo Trainer, associate vice president for facilities and campus planning, said this is because UGI Energy Services, a gas utility company, will be digging up Sayre Drive and nearby roads in the future.
“We don’t want to do something, make improvements and then have the road torn up for a utility project,” Trainer said.
Trainer also said while there’s an “extreme awareness” of pedestrian safety, there are many intertwining plans that must be taken into consideration before any one project can be carried out to completion.
Jason Schiffer, LUPD police chief and the associate vice president of campus safety, said one of the main concerns he advocates for is pedestrian safety on campus.
He said comprehensive plans are underway to improve pedestrian safety, but he didn’t provide further details.
Schiffer said in the past, plans to improve University Drive existed as part of a much larger project — including adding a sidewalk along University Drive, adding new bus stops and demolishing Trembley Park to construct new residence halls in that area.
“For a variety of reasons, COVID actually being one of them, those projects did not happen,” Schiffer said. “COVID really, really altered…a lot of plans.”
Schiffer said while it may be easy to look at the immediate timeline and decide to build a sidewalk, it makes more sense to wait and include this particular improvement in a larger plan.
“It’s not a smart use of money to spend it and tear it up and then rebuild it again,” Schiffer said. “You should do it the right way, one time.”
For now, Trainer said, smaller steps — like the implementation of the new speed bumps — must be taken to create a completely walkable campus.
“It’s not enough, but it’s better than it was when there were no speed bumps maybe,” Schiffer said.
Schiffer said another step the Lehigh community can take toward pedestrian safety is being more mindful about driving while on campus.
He said the speed limit is 15 miles per hour on campus, and while that may seem low, there are so many pedestrians on campus that it’s extremely important to drive mindfully.
Schiffer said the Lehigh community must stay pedestrian-friendly while pedestrian safety plans are being implemented.
“Change happens incrementally,” Trainer said. “Over the past 30 years or so, we’ve become a more pedestrian-friendly campus, and I think we’d like to continue being and becoming a more pedestrian-friendly campus.”
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