Bike lanes provide safer traveling

By Tom McHenry
Summer Editor

Bicycles can make travel around campus quicker and easier, but bikes present a host of new problems.

Both people riding bikes and walking near bike riders can be injured without safety precautions especially in high traffic areas. To prevent this, Purdue has added special bike only lanes to some sidewalks.

"The whole point is to separate bikes from pedestrians in high traffic areas," John Collier, landscape architect for Physical Facilities, said.

The paths are separated from the normal sidewalks by strips of white road tape, giving the appearance of being extra lanes on a road.

Collier said that the main problem is trying to accommodate both bikes and people in a small area. Though the problem is not new, there are very few workable solutions.

Currently there are several bike paths running through some of the most heavily trafficked areas. A bike path runs in front of Lily down State Street. A pair of bike paths run north and south down the Centennial Mall between Wetherill and Stanley Coulter.

Another runs east to west behind Stewart Center and The Purdue Memorial Union. Another runs south alongside Knoy Hall of Technology and the Purdue Memorial Union.

Another bike path runs in front of the Materials and Electrical Engineering building. Another bike path runs around the Electrical Engineering building to Northwestern Avenue. The other main bike path runs between Creative Arts 3 building and between the Civil Engineering building.

"People have to understand that it's a difficult task," Collier said. "We're not going to tear down a building just to accommodate a bike path."

Buildings may not be torn down, but bike paths are still being added to the campus. Thanks to the recent bell tower construction, two paths have been added. One connects ENAD and Elliott Hall of Music and another between Stanley Coulter Hall and Wetherill.

Plans are also underway to develop and renovate the Memorial Mall Drive. Depending on the bids from various developers, another bike path may be added in front of it.

Collier stressed also that bikes can and should travel on the roads. Bike paths are only provided in high pedestrian traffic areas where there is no road for bikes to travel on.

Bike paths can only be constructed on university property. As Grant Street, Stadium Avenue, State Street, Northwestern Avenue and roads in the general area are not university property, the university is not responsible, nor is it able to add bike paths in these areas.

Collier also suggested that those students with bikes register them. Students can do this though a process that is required under Purdue rules. Many students do not do this and thus stolen bikes are rarely recovered.