Last week, a student was struck by a vehicle while crossing the street from Publix to the shopping center on the other side of the road. The specifics of this particular instance aside, it raises certain questions and concerns moving forward, especially when one takes into account that this incident is one of 15 that have occurred in 2011.

The University began working toward making UA a more pedestrian-friendly campus in 2007 when it adopted the Campus Master Plan. Personally, I have not noticed what steps were taken in the last four years, but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been any.

With that in mind, I’d like to use this space to make a few suggestions on how the campus and surrounding area can be improved for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers alike.

I think one of the biggest generators of chaos on campus is the bike lane system. It seems to me, and I imagine many cyclists will agree, that many (if not all) of the bike lanes were created as something of an afterthought.

Take the bike lane on University Boulevard, for instance. It just sort of stops at the end of Old Row, and cyclists are forced to make a decision between the sidewalk and the road. The first is technically illegal; the second is dangerous due to the fact that most Tuscaloosa drivers would rather quit smoking than use a turn signal, much less share the road with a bicyclist.

And then of course there are the infamous “Bicycle and also Bus Lanes,” which strikes me as more of an inconvenience for cyclists since most Crimson Ride buses travel at a speed that even the most high-end coffee drips would struggle to keep pace with.

I’ll now offer a suggestion, because evidently just stating a problem isn’t enough for you people.

I spent some time in Munich in August, where I saw one of the more novel solutions to the pedestrian/cyclist/driver relationship. Basically, the road and sidewalk were separated as they are in any other place, except that the bicycle lane was actually a part of the sidewalk. It was designated as the bicycle lane through the use of a different paving material than the sidewalk, and it worked really well.

I think it would be advantageous to institute this not just on campus, but also throughout Tuscaloosa.

This raises a slightly different point: many of the accidents – including the one last week – take place off campus. To solve a lot of the issues associated with population growth, the University needs to work with the city of Tuscaloosa to develop and grow together.

One way to avoid pedestrian accidents is to decrease the number of cars. Because so many student-oriented housing and apartment complexes are popping up way off-campus, the University has a large number of commuters driving to and from campus. If the area around The Strip (and even downtown) were developed with higher-capacity, student oriented housing, it would reduce the need to drive onto campus, which would in turn make it safer for pedestrians as well as reduce the parking strain UA students are currently dealing with.

The students I know who live in the apartments and houses between University Boulevard and Paul W. Bryant Drive not only walk to class but also to the grocery store or The Strip or any other place they may need to go. Problem is, all those apartment complexes are two or three stories at most, and many are in questionable condition.

Through working and coordinating with the city and developers on affordable, student-oriented housing in the area around The Strip, the cultural face of UA could regain much of its old charm in addition to alleviating much of the stress associated with a growing population of car-dependent commuters as well as making the campus and immediate areas much safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.

John Davis is the chief copy editor of The Crimson White. His column runs on Mondays.