I come from St. Paul, Minn. There are no fewer railroads running through St. Paul than through East Lansing, no fewer trains passing through and no fewer trains sitting idly, waiting until they can move along. However, there are far fewer traffic problems. The reason? This may sound crazy, almost unbelievable, but in St. Paul we made use of a revolutionary invention to minimize railroad problems: bridges. Trains pass over streets on railroad bridges; streets pass over railroads on bridges. The trains can stop for as long as necessary without interfering with anybody. No laws are required.

Now, I realize putting in a bridge or tunnel to allow cars at Bogue Street or Farm Lane to pass over or under trains is not a trivial undertaking. However, given the amount of serious traffic problems caused by having two major railroads pass through a 40,000-plus person campus, the occasional fatalities and the fact that this university is clearly ready to spend large amounts of money redoing intersections such as Farm Lane and Wilson Road or Bogue Street and Shaw Lane, it certainly is something that merits consideration.

Heather Hallen
botany and plant pathology graduate student