While driving east at 9:50 AM on Thursday on the Harrisburg Pike past the main entryway of Franklin and Marshall College which is across the road from dormitories, we came to a sudden stop to allow co-eds scurrying across the road through the heavily planted medial lane garden to reach their 10:00 AM classes.
The planting in the medial street are around 2’ feet high. A running girl can be seen only about 3’ above the plantings. Moreover, the student is focused on stepping between the plants and not looking for oncoming traffic.
Years ago, NewsLanc and others had opposed the substitution of a planted medial strip for the passing lane in anticipation of this exact endangerment.
Safe design requires anticipating where people want to go; not tempting them to leave safe walkways to take dangerous short cuts to their destination.
F & M should bow to the obvious, create a paved break in the medial plantings, and paint cross walks on both sides of the road. This will make it far less dangerous for the students to cross Harrisburg Pike and will avert a likely future tragedy.
Experts warned the former president of F & M, John Fry, that installing a planted medial lane was a mistake. It also served to prevent emergency vehicles from being able to get around traffic. Input was of no avail … as was the case with other matters.
