Delaware Avenue crosswalks combined

University officials are hoping that a new, combined crosswalk on Delaware Avenue will increase pedestrian safety and reduce traffic congestion.

Over the summer, crews replaced the two nearby crosswalks that connect the two halves of the North Green with one central crosswalk. To accommodate the new crossing, paths on The Green were redirected toward the new crosswalk

"Public Safety expressed a lot of concern about pedestrian safety as well as vehicle traffic," said Tom Taylor, a landscape engineer for the university. "Something had to be done to improve the situation."

Permission for the construction was initially acquired from the Delaware Department of Transportation and was subsequently reviewed and approved by the city of Newark. The approval process took most of the spring to complete and the construction itself was completed in the summer months when students were off campus, he said.

Mayor Vance A. Funk III said the city was not very involved with the construction because it was primarily a project spearheaded by the university. The university was financially able to merge the crosswalks with a grant they received at the end of June, he said. Funk did not comment about the specifics of the grant.

"The city is very pleased with the design but we were hopeful the crosswalk would have been controlled by a light that was coordinated with the existing light at the intersection of South College and Delaware Avenue," Funk said. "We want the bulk of the students to cross around the same times."

To compensate for the lack of traffic light on the crosswalk, a university officer will be posted at the crosswalk to direct pedestrian and vehicle traffic, he said.

"It was a nightmare during class change times because the light would turn green but you would stop after 200 feet for pedestrians crossing the street, and traffic would back up through intersection when the light turned red," Funk said. "Basically, you had to be an idiot to drive on Delaware Avenue during class change times."

Some students agree that some sort of change was necessary due to the traffic problem.

"I'm glad a police officer will be there when classes get out," senior Melissa Hilbeck said. "It will make it safer and hopefully help all the traffic."

Newark resident Anne Riley said she is undecided about whether the merged crosswalk will help the traffic problem.  

"It's hard to tell if the one crosswalk is better than two since students haven't been here," Riley said