LETTER: Construction an inconvenience

To the editor:

As a student who has been going to USU through the construction of the Eccles Science Learning Center, the Widstoe Building, the new library, and the new Engineering Building, I feel I’ve had my fair share of experience in getting to and from classes with construction going on all around. In the last week fences went up for the apparent demolition of the Engineering Classroom building. Some concerns I have with this have come up in that the engineers in charge of the project have not given adequate walkway space for students to go to and from classes in the new Engineering building in a safe manner. With the cold weather many students are forced to walk through snow covered grass areas. These areas are not cleared of snow by plows…resulting in ice forming on the ground making it very dangerous to walk.

Students also need to be more patient and be willing to take the long way around the building if it means walking on a cleared off sidewalk. This will benefit all come spring time. The paths may be all well and good now but these paths will turn to mud and not the grass that was intended to be there when the weather warms. Precedent for this is readily apparent near the Business building where there was grass when I started at USU and now is a mess of dirt trodden paths.

Both students and the university need to do a better job at preserving the grounds here at USU. If fences are put up that block the sidewalk path, please just block the whole path and force students to go around. If that cannot be done, students need to take the initiative and avoid walking on the snow covered grass areas.

Jake Smith