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OU To Conduct Study On Turning Park Place Into Student Commons
By: Grant Burkhardt
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Ohio University is exploring the idea of turning Park Place at its Athens campus into a student commons, citing traffic and pedestrian safety concerns.
Park Place is the two way street outside the president's mansion and Alden Library, and extends to the top doors or Baker University Center.
University Vice President of Finance and Administration Steve Golding said the school will take a year to conduct a study of potential construction ideas. Golding's presentation included pictures of the commons areas at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio, the University of Iowa in Iowa City, and Northeastern University in Boston, Mass.
The concept would include turning the space into a pedestrian-only zone, taking away all vehicle traffic. Golding noted that it takes 10-15 minutes for traffic to move at all when students are changing classes, and he joked he's never seen a college student look both ways before crossing a street.
The presentation included a few sketches of possible designs:
