Renovations made to McKinley Avenue made the road safer for pedestrians, officials say.
Three years after the first phase of the McKinley Safety Improvement Project, Ball State University stands by its original purpose as it heads into the final phases of the project this summer.
Beside the aesthetic improvements, the renovations added functional safety properties, including a median and several crossing areas along the street.
Jim Lowe, director of engineering and operations, said the university renovated McKinley because of development around the street and safety issues.
Lowe said remodeling the main street through campus was a plan for Ball State since campus and McKinley traffic began expanding decades ago. The timing of the project was decided by the amount of development and funding, he said.
"The university grew, the university evolved," Lowe said. "McKinley was outgrown."
Lowe said the goal with the medians and crossovers was to even out pedestrian crossings throughout the street. Before the renovations, an "overwhelming" amount of pedestrians waited to cross at intersections or crossed sporadically, and it increased the risks of being hit.
"If you can move pedestrians in a somewhat more even flow those problems tend to go away," Lowe said.
Freshman pre-medicine major Keith Rogers said he had always felt safe on McKinley sidewalks, but they get crowded during the busy hours of the day. He said Ball State would benefit from trying to reduce traffic through campus in order to make pedestrians safer.
"Don't redirect pedestrians," Rogers said, "but redirect traffic maybe."
Lowe said four-way intersections have 64 potential "points of conflict" for pedestrians and cars. Cars coming from any direction could go one of three ways and pedestrians from any corner could cross in different directions, creating 64 opportunities for accidents, he said.
Parts of the street near the crossings are paved with brick, Lowe said, and the rumbling of the tires over the bricks alerts cars of pedestrian crossings, while the brick crossings also visually alert pedestrians approaching them.
Lowe said Ball State made all of the "cuts and curves" of the renovations with disabled students in mind. The sidewalks and crossings are easily accessible to wheelchairs, and intersections on campus have beeps to guide blind students, Lowe said.
Lowe said Ball State has spent $9 million completing two phases of the McKinley project. The first phase was the renovation of McKinley between Neely and Riverside avenues, and the second was between Neely and Bethel avenues.
Renovation to McKinley from Riverside to University avenues is scheduled to begin in summer 2009, and work on Riverside and Neely avenues is scheduled to begin in the next two years. Those projects will use concepts similar to the those on McKinley.
Costs could be similar to the first two phases, Lowe said, but no estimates have been generated.
However, safety for pedestrians on campus is still an issue for the University Police Department.
Gene Burton, director of public safety, said pedestrians should follow two main rules to stay safe on campus streets: use identified crossings, and watch the vehicles.
Making eye contact with drivers is also important because drivers don't always see pedestrians even though they have the right-of-way, Burton said.
He thought he had seen fewer accidents involving pedestrians since McKinley was renovated, he said. However, he did not know specific statistics regarding accidents involving pedestrians.
The renovations affected the speed at which cars traveled throughout the most populated area of campus, he said.
"Any time you can have a reduction of speed for a driver you improve their reaction time," Burton said.
Ball State could improve pedestrian safety by launching a campaign to make pedestrians and motorists aware of their rights and the rights of others, he said.
Sophomore Matt Devine, special education and social studies education major, said pedestrian safety shouldn't be an issue.
A pedestrian safety campaign would be a waste of money and time because students are old enough to be smart when walking on the sidewalk, Devine said.
"If you're a college student I hope you were taught that when a car comes you don't walk," he said.
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