Not quite the Golden Gate: Proposed bridge over South Road is a waste of money; crossing guards su?cient to help traffic flow

Building a footbridge over South Road is a bad idea and plans to do so should be halted.

The proposed bridge would stretch from Fetzer Gym all the way over South Road before leading into the Pit.

Its purpose would be to ease traffic congestion on South Road and to provide students with safe passage to the middle of campus.

But it’s also unnecessary, and the price tag is alarming. The final cost of the bridge will be roughly $8 million.

The Board of Trustees should stop this project and direct that the $8 million be used for a better, more useful venture.

Crossing the road is already simple enough. The crossing guards on South Road do their jobs well.

While it’s true that they can’t be there 24/7 to direct traffic, they don’t need to be.

Just having them there at peak times should be enough to make sure pedestrians cross safely.

And with a few schedule tweaks, this costly, industrial-looking bridge would be completely unnecessary.

No one can put a price on student safety, but there is a functioning system in place right now.

Furthermore, there seems to have been little, if any, student input on the project so far.

A matter involving such costly and campus-shaping construction needs student opinion.

Student government’s capital projects task force has recently announced it has plans to do just that.

The group will begin shortly to gather students’ opinions regarding the bridge.

Student safety is important. But so is making sure expensive campus projects are actually necessary.

And the proposed bridge over South Road is not.