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“Crunch,” 3 for Morgan: ^ H
Basketball starter recovers quickly from injury I \J
injury
January 29, 2004
Volume LV, Number 17
Serving UNC Wilmington since 1948
Widening Randall may cause problems for UNCW
Ashley Sheffield
Staff Writer
Plans are under way to widen
Randall Parkway, but this issue
has sparked some controversy.
A traffic study done in June
2001 by Kimley-Horn and
Associates, Inc., concluded that
the UNCW daily traffic on
Randall Parkway was beyond
capacity. The widening of Randall
has been proposed in the past as a
possible solution to the problem.
According to the report,
“Capacity is defined as the maxi
mum number of vehicles that can
pass over a particular road or
rying significantly more traffic
than their design value of approx
imately 12,000 vehicles per day.
The study also included that “The
contribution of non-University
traffic using Randall Drive as a
‘short-cut’ remains significant
during these same hours.”
Sharon Boyd, associate vice
chancellor of Business and
Support Services said, “Generally
as a University, we’ve been
opposed to the widening of
Randall Parkway because we
would be widening it for through
traffic, not for our constituents,
and it’s just going to create more
traffic.” There is the concern that
Nolan DeanAhe Seahawk
UNCW officials are unsure whether the plan
will solve or create more problems with campus
traffic congestion.
through a particular intersection
within a set time duration.” In
1996, the 24-hour volume of traf
fic on Randall was 14,707 and in
2001, 12,922.
Reportedly, Randall and Crews
Drive as two-lane roads, are “car-
more lanes could make the road
more difficult to cross.
Yet with the addition of the
Watson School of Education and
the future Fine Arts building,
more traffic will be contributed to
the same trouble area of campus^
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www.theseahawk.org
Randall will be widened from
two to four lanes from South
College Road to Independence
sometime next year. Jim
Flechtner, Traffic Engineering
manager for the City of
Wilmington said, “We’re in the
process of selecting a consultant
to design the project.”
Funding has already been
approved, and now the contract
will be finalized and will need
approval by City Council.
Mark Tinkler, senior trans
portation- planner, stated that
interviews for the design firm are
currently being held, “so that the
project will be done probably
within the next 12-18 months.”
Construction could begin ear
lier than that. “As far as exten
sion into campus, that was some
thing from the long range plan
ning point of view that had been
on the plans for some time, but
was then completely dropped due
to opposition from the universi
ty.” Tinkler also mentioned that
planning alterations such as
medians and pedestrian cross
walks could be utiUzed to lessen
the congestion due to more lanes.
Michael White, professor of
creative writing and member of
the Parking and Transportation
Committee, and Building and
Grounds Committee, said, “I do
know that most faculty and
administrators I’ve spoken with
have staunchly opposed it.”
White considered alternative
transportation an essential vari
able. Some other alternatives to
expanding Randall Parkway
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Noian Dean/tM Seahawk
The City of Wilmington plans to widen Randall
Parkway between South College Road and
Independance Boulevard.
would be to promote alternative
transportation such as the shuttle
service, bike paths, more pedes
trian crosswalks, the “one-mile
radius rule” and car pooling.
Even the possibility of desig
nated parking on campus has
been suggested. Boyd said, “One
thing that we want to do next
year, and 1 stress that we want to
do it; we want to go to designated
parking, and that’s putting the
commuters similar to the resident
students in designated zones. And
that would keep people from
moving around from one parking
lot to another parking lot all day.”
Thus, it could contribute to a
more pedestrian centered campus.
Boyd also said right now an
immediate step is a traffic study
to occur at the intersection of
Racine and Crews Drive (at the
Water Tower) in order to approve
a crosswalk to make it safer
Another goal could be to pro
mote underutilized entrances such
as Hurst Drive. Also, the sched
ules could be spread out to prevent
an abundance of traffic at peak
hours of the day. This could mean
later hours for dining, class sched
ules, other campus activities and
visitors that come to UNCW to do
business or campus tours.
“I don’t believe those extra
lanes would cause more conges
tion,” said Robert Bass, senior of
creative writing.
As of yet there are no plans for
the extension of Randall onto
campus as of now. There lies the
definite concern that something
needs to be done.
OP/ED
4
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