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Crossing to the Other Side Made Safer
by Bob Burnette
Painting Crosswalks to "calm" Traffic
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The main road that splits the Mars Hill College campus has five new crosswalks and new extended sidewalks to ensure the safety of student pedestrians.
Crosswalks have been placed in front of the Chapel, the Media Center, the Memorial library, Blackwell, and in front of Moore. Sidewalks have been connected to form a safer passage for students. The $93,000 project was funded by the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
Construction began in mid-August and was needed to help with increased traffic coming from the new I-26 interstate that was completed over the summer. The crosswalks serve as "traffic calming devices," says local State Representative Ray Rapp, who is president of the college's Adult Access program. The hope is that traffic will slow down in reaction to the crosswalks.
Under the law, drivers must stop for pedestrians who are "within the confines of a crosswalk" said Chief of Campus Police David Ingram.
Rapp says that for many years the road, Highway 213, has been notorious for being dangerous, and some people have actually gotten hit.
Bob Ronai, a former basketball coach for the Mars Hill Lions, was walking his son across this same road on a normal day in 1984. Renee's son slipped away from him and was killed by a motorist who was going too fast.
Another incident in the early 1990's involved the wife of former college President Hoyt Blackwell. Rapp said she was trying to make her way across the same street and was struck by an on-coming motorist. She survived.
Former student Jeremy Davis was crossing the road about two years ago and was hit by an oncoming Saturn. He was hospitalized for injuries, according to his fraternity brother Derek Hodges.
More recently, Senior Class President Ben Jackson witnessed a near-tragedy. A female student was walking across the road from Blackwell to the other side. She stepped out onto the road just as a motorist approached. Expecting the car to slow down, she proceeded. It was unclear whether the motorist saw her or not, but he made no attempt to slow down. She barely escaped being hit by a car, just trying to go about her daily routine.
"Everyone that was around me just looked at each other and their mouths dropped," said Jackson, still shaken by the incident that took place about 2 years ago. "This really raised the issue of the right of way of pedestrians."
That year Jackson delivered an emotional appeal to the Student Government Association about this situation and how it needed to be corrected so that students could feel safe doing something as routine as crossing a two-lane street.
For years the school has researched what is the best method of fixing this problem and utilizing safer crossing methods. "History has shown that it (213) can be treacherous to navigate", said Rapp.
One idea was to build a loop around that area of campus and bypass traffic through another route. Political Science Professor George Peery suggested a tunnel under the road or a bridge across it.
Rapp says, "We researched these methods on other campuses like AB tech, but found that no one really uses the overpasses when they are in a hurry to get where they are going, so we decided on the crosswalks."
Some students say the project should have started earlier and finished sooner. Traffic was at a standstill sometimes because of all the construction, causing frustration not only for students but also for motorists coming through that section.
Senior Josh Almond, who lives near the road and drives on it to the campus for classes, said, "I feel like it is a good thing that the school is concerned, but I think they could have started earlier than when they did, and I have yet to have seen how it is helping." Even with the new crosswalks, he says, the cars don't always stop for people crossing.
Dean of Students Craig Goforth said construction was delayed because of a very rainy summer. "But I think that this will open up the roads more and will be a huge positive thing for all of us."
Rapp said additional funding is available for more streetlights to provide better visibility at night.
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