What do you get when you combine a campus road, heavy equipment and summer-session students? A giant and inconvenient, but necessary, mess.
McKinley Avenue will of be no use to anyone over the summer, and will most definitely add to the frustration many people feel about Muncie roads, but who would suspect that a much needed remodel of the street would cause problems for the pedestrian population? Well, it has.
I've been a fan of walking for a long time. Since I was a young child, I've taken pride in my steps and have stepped in many things, but now my daily commute to campus is marred by an evil force known as progress ... and I have to walk down Riverside then come up behind Teacher's College just to get to the Art and Journalism building. Life is so unfair!
There is absolutely no doubt that there will be some added walking time to summer students' the daily commutes.
There is also no doubt that many students will hear, as well as dish out, numerous complaints about the construction -- like the one above -- and whatever pain it causes them, and where. Such is the general attitude of those diverted from the norm.
And for as many complaints as everyone is sure to hear about the McKinley revamp, there may be very few people accentuating the positive, as is the nature of people our age. We're young, cynical and impatient.
One positive that is sure to come from the construction is the comic relief that we will find in orientation groups. There will never be anything quite like watching a new student who doesn't know his way around campus running the gauntlet between back-hoes and mud slicks -- or better yet, a whole tour group. Man, that would be classic.
Another plus is the added amount of exercise. While the number of steps you take on average around campus will grow exponentially, maybe your belt size won't. We could all have better physiques by the end of summer
I think it will be best for everyone to look out onto McKinley and see promise. And no matter your attitude the rest of the year, when you see the road finished, it will be like Christmas. You will have to wait a few agonizing months, but before you know it, Mom and Pop will have paved the path so tires and feet can stroll it again.
Wouldn't it be nice to drive through campus and see trees in the median? Maybe take a stroll on a brick sidewalk? If there's one thing the campus could use it's a little prettying-up, and this project is sure to help.
Plus, did someone say safety?
Finally, you can make it through "Dead Man's Curve," the road around the bell tower, without worrying about the oncoming vehicle in your lane, when the vehicle in front of you is going to slam on its brakes or who the next person to jump in front of your car will be. However, I will miss the rush I got from that white-knuckled ride of doom and excitement.
There's also the possibility of turning lights. Turning lights! I cannot convey how much I dislike sitting on McKinley for an afternoon, waiting to turn onto Neely.
This McKinley revamp might be incredibly annoying for the time being, but a lot of us have made it through worse -- for example, having a brother or sister, which can be annoying for multiple years at a time. I think we can make it until August, when the campus' main artery flows freely, even if it's just because because we have to. Complaining won't stop the construction; it will stop when it stops.
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