South Road is the least of our infrastructure woes

TO THE EDITOR:

As a student of the public infrastructure (currently working on a honor thesis on mass transit) so much more is at stake in terms of roads bridges potholes sidewalks light poles utility grids buildings parks and other public amenities than an 8-foot crosswalk that has been proposed on South Road a two-lane street.

Mayors and governors across the country have been decrying our declining public infrastructure long before it became a popular political issue.

But more than that I am currently dealing with the town of Chapel Hill and the North Carolina Department of Transportation to install a leveled 100-meter median sidewalk between Fordham Boulevard at the beginning of Franklin Street in east Chapel Hill.

There my neighbors and I trample through a crudely paved walk path without a light fixture or crosswalk sign as we dodge heavy U.S. 15-501 traffic in both directions.

In inclement weather we trudge through muddy and slippery ground.

At night we walk through an enormously dark path with speeding car commuters hardly seeing us cross. If funds need to be directed anywhere it should serve many pedestrians or commuters and help alleviate costly inconveniences and unsafe situations.



Parfait Gasana

Senior

Sociology