New barriers aim to decrease vehicular traffic in campus center

By Nicholas Schlotterer
November 27, 2019

At the beginning of the Fall 2019 semester, everyone moved back onto an unfamiliar campus. During the previous year, students had to patiently wait as Cabrini was doing a massive amount of construction for new buildings, structures and roadways.

Even though the new additions amazed everyone on the first day, there was a new way of doing things at Cabrini. The center of campus was turned into a strictly pedestrian walkway, even though last year there were major efforts to cut down on vehicle traffic through campus.

During the 2018-2019 academic year, the center of campus turned into a pedestrian walkway but still had a frequent number of vehicles driving through because the barriers weren’t put in place and were often moved to the side and it was not clearly posted that the drive was closed.

This year as you walk or drive around campus, you can see the clearly marked closed roads because of the semi-permanent barriers that were put in place at the beginning of this semester.  This is part of  Cabrini University’s Master Plan.

Photo of a new gate installed to close off the main road at Cabrini University. Photo by Nicholas Schlotterer
Photo of Cabrini University campus map. Shaded lining in between buildings 8,12,9,11,16,13,15; is the new dedicated pedestrian walkways. Photo by Cabrini.edu

Joseph Fusco, director of public safety, said the new walkways and barriers were installed this year after construction.

“Even though the center of campus has been closed off for pedestrians, it doesn’t mean that students should not be fully aware of their surroundings,” Fusco said.

“Since the closure of the roads in the center of campus, we have a lot fewer unknown vehicles flying through campus. The number of cars driving through campus will never get down to zero because of the need for staff to make their ways to certain buildings, like facilities and public safety,” Fusco said.

Since public safety has moved to their new building, there is even less vehicle traffic through campus since the university’s shuttles no longer have to go through the middle of campus to get back to their building.

“A recent concern of ours has been Uber and Lyft drivers making their way to the front patios of the apartments, West and South residence halls. The drivers were driving onto a walkway out near the apartments on campus, but right now we have that walkway temporarily barricaded so cars will not be able to pass. Soon we will be installing barriers there like those seen blocking off other parts of the campus,” Fusco said.

Sophomore exercise science major Morgan Fazzini talked about how she likes the new pedestrian walkways.

“I like not having to worry about looking around for cars speeding through campus,” Fazzini said. “But when I’m driving I want to take a short cut through campus but you can’t win them all.”

“Making the center of campus a pedestrian walkway was a smart and good idea. It gives students and faculty members an easier way to walk through campus without the constant worry or fear of cars coming,” Evelyn Enrique, marketing major said.

Making the center of campus a pedestrian walkway will “reduce the number of accidents on campus and will help keep down the speed of drivers traveling through campus,” Fusco said.

Public Safety is also working with Uber, Lyft and mapping services like Google Maps and Waze to have them update their maps, so it’s easier for them to figure out where to go once they get on campus. They are also working with them to update the center of campus, so it will stop telling drivers to drive through the middle of campus since it is no longer accessible to unauthorized vehicles.

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Nicholas Schlotterer

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