Efforts to improve the new and existing bike and pedestrian paths around campus will hopefully benefit the many members of the University community who enjoy walking, running or cycling.
“The goal is to create safe, well-lit paths to separate foot traffic from vehicular traffic,” said Jason Soileau, a landscape architect and assistant director of the University’s Office of Campus Planning.
According to Soileau, the safety and comfort of students, staff and visitors to walk or ride around the University is an important part of the campus master plan.
Fred Raiford, director of the Department of Public Works, is responsible for helping the University partner with the city and parish to connect campus paths to those on the levee, Dalrymple Drive and other city-owned locations outside of campus.
“I’m excited about these plans, and I’m looking forward to these paths getting under construction,” Raiford said. “By joining the paths at LSU with paths in adjacent areas of the city, we can better serve the community.”
All the paths will have a decorative look to them, as well as lighting, seating areas and trash receptacles.
Soileau said the “green loop,” consists of the paths that run through the heart of campus. The matching look will enable pedestrians and cyclists to tell which paths will bring them into the heart of campus, he said.
The purpose for building new and expanding existing paths is to create a “pedestrian highway that will help with traffic congestion and affect the image of the campus,” Soileau said.
To accommodate walkers, runners and cyclists, all the paths will be eight to 12 feet wide.
The campus path along South Stadium Drive, from Nicholson Drive to the LSU Public Safety Building, already has been completed.
“I think the sidewalk helps the handicapped students and makes the campus look better,” said Vincent White, a sociology senior.
Soileau said the path will be extended from the Public Safety Building to CEBA this summer. According to a recent LSU press release, the University’s Enhancing the Core project provided funds for the South Stadium path.
A recently completed path located around the University Lake along West Lakeshore Drive, commonly known as Sorority Row, is popular among members of the University and Baton Rouge community.
“I used to run the lakes when I lived in my sorority house,” said Tasha Muse, a pre-nursing junior. “The path probably helps keep people safer because there are some crazy drivers on Sorority Row.”
The path has enabled walkers, runners and cyclists to exercise without being in the way of vehicles passing by on the winding street, as well as closer to the lake. The lake trail was funded by the Governor’s Office with a state rural development grant.
Soileau said the next project is scheduled to begin in April.
Completion of the current plans will add about 5.5 miles of pedestrian paths on campus, not including the levee path, Soileau said. The first phase of the levee bike trail will begin downtown and extend to Skip Bertman Drive. Eventually, the second phase of this path will extend to Farr Park at River Road.
Several projects are still in the planning stages. The first of these is a path that will connect the LSU Child Care Center off of Gourrier Lane with Nicholson Extension in one direction and Burbank Drive in the other, Soileau said. Another path also will be built to provide accessibility to the student recreational sports fields that are being constructed at Gourrier Lane and River Road.
A pedestrian “bayou walk” will run parallel to existing bayous, from Nicholson Extension to South Stadium Drive.
“This will provide a more natural-type walk through campus, instead of walking by noisy streets,” Soileau said.
An enhancement of West Chimes Street at the edge of campus is still in the planning stages. Other plans include new pedestrian crossings on Burbank Drive and Nicholson Drive.