Posted: 09/21/09

You run out the door, backpack flailing, hair going every-which way, and you don’t even care when you realize that you’ve thrown yourself onto a “dew-kissed” (more like soaking wet) bike seat because you need to make it to Hibbard in exactly 2 minutes and 14 seconds. It happens to the best of us.

You’re pedaling way faster than anyone should have to at 8:57 in the morning, when you are forced to come to a screeching halt, greeted by every off-campus student’s nightmare, that dreaded spot, the place where the pedestrians and bicyclists meet on the footbridge.

You pedal slowly towards the inevitable crowd, awkwardly speeding up, then slowing down, and eventually forced to put your feet down and waddle through the crowd. Now you’re frustrated, tired, sweaty and didn’t even make it to class on time, and of course it’s your class with the professor who is a stickler about tardiness.

Now just hear me out people, I know it’s a crazy idea, but what if we changed the bike side to be by the ramp and put the pedestrian side to be by the stairs? This has gotten a little ridiculous, and I’ll even say dangerous. So why haven’t we made this small, yet extremely effective change?

The answer, says Terri Classen, director of facilities management, is completely logical. “The issue does come up occasionally,” Classen said. “The reason the bike lane is on the east though is because of truckster (“Cushman”) vehicle use of the footbridge. The trucksters would not be able to make the tight turn necessary from the south ramp into the bike lane if the bike lane were on the west side.”

Although there is construction due to take place on the footbridge next year, Classen says it’s only regular maintenance work, and there are no plans to expand or change the layout of the bridge in the near future.

So since the constant foot traffic of students has to sacrifice for the occasional Cushman, I guess we’ll still have to play our game of chicken unless we find a better way to peacefully cross the footbridge. Gondolas anyone?

Judkins is a senior public relations major and guest columnist for The Spectator.