A construction worker laying blacktop
Photo courtesy of Christopher Hamilton
hamiltcc19@bonaventure.edu
BY: DAVID SCIBILIA, NEWS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
During the final week of September, construction on the road behind Doyle Hall and the Sandra A. & William L. Richter Center started. This project has been something St. Bonaventure University has been planning for a while.
“The Facilities Department and the Safety and Security office have been working on this plan for over a year now to make the entire area safer for the SBU community,” said Jared Smith, Director of Facilities Operations.
Before construction, there was no sidewalk, meaning students walking would share the street with cars.
“I have walked that road at night and I almost got hit once,” Freshman biology major William McCallum said, “It was pretty dark, so they couldn’t see me.”
The current construction aims to fix a couple of issues in this area.
“The road was widened to make it safer for vehicle traffic and an asphalt path was added for pedestrian traffic to keep people from walking in the street,” said Smith.
Jacob Schoeberl, junior health science major, echoes the need for this project.
“The road was tight. Especially if there was an event at the stadium where people would park on both sides of the street it was very difficult to get two cars past,” Schoeberl said.
This intersection was closed three times—Oct. 4, Oct. 5 and Oct. 12— for re-paving the road and paving the new sidewalk. Because the road around Bonaventure doesn’t loop around the full campus, these closures caused problems for some students’ daily commutes.
“Instead of turning right to go to the Richter Center or to the tennis court lots, I would have to turn left, go on to [New York State Route] 417, and then get back on campus,” said Schoeberl.
There are not any confirmed plans for this road to be closed again in the future.
Hoping to be completed by the end of October this construction includes the addition of new light poles to keep the area better lit at night.
“Now that it’s well-lit and has a paved sidewalk, I’m going to be more likely to walk that way to Freshens,” said McCallum.
Although there aren’t any specific plans as of now in a similar nature to this project, students should expect more construction around campus.
“[The University] is always looking to improve all of its facilities and grounds on campus to keep up with the demands and needs of the entire campus community,” said Smith.
scibiliad22@bonaventure.edu
