A quick walk around LSU will enlighten anyone of the ongoing infrastructure crisis that needs to be addressed. The only existing bike lanes on campus runs along Field House Drive and South Stadium Drive, and they are in need of renovations. The University plans to implement a bike-share program in Spring 2019, but lacks the infrastructure needed for the program to be fully functional.
In 2016, the University was recognized by the League of American Bicyclists as a silver Bicycle Friendly University. Based on the criteria for the award, it’s questionable how the University was deemed worthy. The honor is awarded to campuses that have “made a significant investment in its bicycle facilities and has invested in making the streets around the campus bicycle friendly.”
Skip Bertman Drive, South Campus Drive and Highland Road are just a few of the highly trafficked areas at the University’s campus that lack infrastructure to be recognized as safe for cyclists.
The University’s website for “Campus Sustainability” provides an “LSU Bicycle Routes” map for cyclists looking for routes to campus. However, several of the routes are also marked with instances of “pedestrian/vehicular conflicts” in LSU’s 2017 Master Plan. Six of the conflicts are found on the Highland Road portion of campus alone. The University is suggesting student cyclists use routes that are potentially dangerous, instead of resurfacing and widening campus sidewalks, or working with city officials to create bike lanes on highly trafficked streets.
Only 12 percent of Baton Rouge residents do not own a car, with many of these people opting for bicycle or transit system transportation. Approximately 0.78 percent of Baton Rouge residents ride a bike to work and 2.3 percent of Baton Rouge residents make use of the transit system. Baton Rouge ranks 15th and 14th in the state among bicycle and public transportation categories respectively. Those low numbers can discourage the creation of bike lanes by the University and the city government, but that discouragement eliminates the possibility of seeing those numbers rise.
Identifying sidewalks as the solution for cyclists does not solve the problem. In certain areas on campus, cyclists are required by law to ride in the street instead of the sidewalk. Riding a bike on the sidewalk also creates unsafe conditions for pedestrians, who often do not hear cyclists approaching and are likely to step out in front of one.
A study conducted at Western Michigan University 2012 found that infrastructure improvements can often be found costly, and in some cases, impractical. The study concluded that it may be more ideal to adopt and implement a standardized signage program that alerts cyclists, motorists and pedestrians. The sign recommendations include the shared use of pathways for cyclists and pedestrians, shared lane markings to alert motorists of the presence of cyclists and pedestrian priority zones to avoid any collisions between cyclists and pedestrians. The implementation of such a program at LSU would be a huge step in the right direction.
The University should move quickly to address this crisis before it gets worse. Next year, all freshmen will be required to live on campus, which will likely increase the amount of pedestrians and cyclists on campus. This policy, along with the implementation of the bike-share program next spring, should motivate the University to live up to the status it claims to have earned.
Seth Nieman is a 22-year-old mass communication senior from McComb, Mississippi.