Students petition for bike lanes on campus

Students have started a petition to "complete the streets" of the University of Richmond campus by building bike lanes.

Junior Michael Rogers, who started the petition, said he hoped the first campus bike lane could be added onto the new road being built over the summer between the Jepson Alumni Center parking lot and the 1900 block of the University Forest Apartments.

"The university has committed to putting bike paths on campus eventually as a form of alternate transportation," Rogers said. "This is a great opportunity because it's rare to build a new road on campus. The added cost [of building a bike lane] is so marginal relative to the cost of building a whole road -- the amount it costs to build one mile of road could outfit one entire city with an alternate transportation network."

Senior Brendan Judy said, "With all the multiple current construction projects, it is a perfect opportunity for the university to take the initiative and improve the safety of our roads for cars and bicyclists with the addition of bike lanes."

Rogers said he hoped the petition would make a statement and show that students were committed to alternate forms of transportation. He said the Green Bike program had shown a need for easier ways for bikers to get around on campus.

"We definitely need bike lanes in order to sincerely encourage students to ride around campus instead of driving," Judy said. "It is extremely difficult to ride around campus without bike lanes, especially up the winding hill [on Boatwright Drive] ... or going to and from the apartments where the choice is either to go on the narrow road with cars or to block up the sidewalk."

Rogers said bike paths would also provide an opportunity for people to "see the campus at a human pace."

The Partnership for Smarter Growth -- an organization that works for education and advocacy of development, land use and transportation issues -- supports the petition, said Sheila Sheppard, coordinator of the Richmond PSG. The University of Richmond could lead the way to complete streets, she said.

Junior Kaitlin Coffey said she thought the bike paths were a great idea.

"It would make roads less hazardous for both bikers and drivers," she said.

As of yesterday, 72 students, faculty, staff and community members had signed the petition, which can be found at www.ipetitions.com/petition/completespiderstreets/.

Contact staff writer Anna Kuta at anna.kuta@richmond.edu.