As students walk, ride or skate to class, they may be noticing something different about the sidewalks.
On Bogue Street near the traffic circle and around the major intersections on campus, bike lanes have made an appearance on campus to separate pedestrians from bikers.
MSU Deputy Chief Mike Rice said the bike lanes were established by the 2020 Vision program and Campus Park and Planning to accommodate more space for students, and hopefully, ease congestion.
“With the more road work we do, we build the sidewalks wide enough to accommodate bike lanes,” Rice said. “Now there are large bike ways for folks to use.”
Rice said the lanes were put in near the major intersections on campus and where construction has been done, including the new Trowbridge Road extension.
Jeff Kacos, director of Campus Park and Planning, said the master plan for bicycle transportation calls for expanded sidewalks and additional bike lanes.
The Campus Park and Planning committee is waiting for the appropriate funds to construct more bike lanes on campus in the future, he said.
“Near the Red Cedar corridor, we are looking at the safety components between pedestrians and bikers and possibly adding a separate bike lane there,” he said. “We are trying to connect dots to make the bike lanes more contiguous, because the ones we have now start and stop.”
Kacos said the committee is also looking to add more lanes on Farm Lane, which now has lanes on the side of the road in one section, and to make West Circle Drive one lane, with the extra space provided for a bike lane.
“These plans are not funded now, but the committee is providing a place for the ideas to be generated,” he said.
Some students on campus say the bikes lanes are a good idea, but aren’t sure if they will solve all the problems caused by student congestion on the sidewalks.
“I think people will start using them, but it doesn’t really help,” said Scott Parr, a no-preference freshman.
Parr said he doesn’t think students will follow the lanes, and congestion and accidents will still happen.
“If someone is walking in the bike lane and gets hit, it’s their own fault,” he said.
