Shel Silverstein caught our attention at age eight with “Where the Sidewalk Ends.”
Architects, civil engineers and Silverstein explore phenomenon like the mystery of sidewalk adherence. Hillsdale campus sidewalks could serve as their test subject.
Students and professors grumble about areas that need sidewalks and about areas with too many sidewalks.
Vice President of Administration Richard Péwé hears these grumbles and balances practicality and aesthetics.
“It matters to me,” Péwé said. “I have a great view [from the third floor of Central Hall], it’s interesting to see.”
“There is a place where the sidewalk ends / And before the street begins”
Urban and campus designers study the moment when a pedestrian leaves a sidewalk. The decision to leave the sidewalk is the choice to follow the “line of desire.”
In a Nov. 1, 2003, edition of American School and University, Richard Garcia described the “line of desire”:
“Pedestrian pathways, often attractively paved with flagstone, are not always the shortest distance between two points. They may have been designed to meander ... but a student late for class is likely to take the shortest route. ... These routes sometimes can be spotted by a path worn into the ground.”
Péwé is well aware of the concept.
“Sometimes people create paths to encourage what pedestrians see,” he said. “While they’re on their way hopefully they get something out of it.”
Hillsdale students tread dirt paths in front of Moss Hall, the Sage Center and Galloway Residence.
As if it’s a ritual, Galloway commuters wear a distinct dirt path between two available sidewalks that go “the long way.”
Péwé attempts to maximize “green space” and save long-standing trees and said he believes students should take pride in campus beauty.
He also said that Galloway residents had worn a different dirt path into the grass years ago, to which the college responded with a new sidewalk. After that, students changed their behavior to avoid the new sidewalk.
Sophomore Jon Dunn suggested campus sidewalks are too wide. Dunn, who plans to walk from Virginia to San Francisco beginning this summer, said one main thoroughfare for vehicles and many narrow paths for walking would accommodate lines of desire without creating eyesores.
But Péwé said building codes require certain widths.
“We wouldn’t do anything too narrow,” he said.
Sidewalks will not likely be narrower than 5 feet across.
“We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow”
While Garcia suggested that students look for an efficient route, the actual time saved is minimal.
I tried 16 walking trials on Galloway’s line of desire. The dirt path saved an average of 1.375 seconds.
“And there the grass grows soft and bright”
Sophomore Jon Oatess said he thinks recent landscaping additions along sidewalks between Central, Delp and Moss halls complicate pedestrian decisions.
“Once the bushes became really prevalent it was harder to cut through,” he said. “Do you think the bushes are meant to keep people in line?”
Yes. Péwé said new shrubbery should control pedestrian paths.
“I have a harder time cutting through landscaping than the grass,” Oatess said. “It’s mental. I’m not as likely to walk through someone’s landscaping as I am their grass.”
He challenged the suggestion that students ignore sidewalks only to save time.
“I like walking under trees,” Oatess said.
Sophomore Paul Ray spoke to a similar effect.
“I like the feel of grass under my feet,” Ray said. “I think of bliss.”
“For the children, they mark, and the children, they know / The place where the sidewalk ends”a
Silverstein wrote that children know sidewalks best, but urban designers also work hard to pursue the same information for everyone’s convenience.
In searching for efficient and accessible sidewalks, current urban designers concentrate on forming a landscape master plan (LMP) and listening to pedestrian input.
The LMP is exactly that: a plan that factors in current design conditions and goals for future development.
“The goal is to establish a blueprint for change while maintaining the institution’s sense of place and its identity,” Garcia wrote. “If an institution lacks a distinct sense of identity, a good LMP can help create one.”
“Form is very important and it will drive some of the traffic patterns,” Péwé said. “It says something about the institution.”
If Hillsdale’s sidewalks contribute to an identity, the college should be worried. Sidewalks that travel “up the hill” are sketchy at best and frequently trip high-heeled ladies.
While Péwé pays attention to sidewalks, some areas still lack them, and others have too many. Residents of The Suites also complain that no direct route leads them up the hill.
Also, the new classroom buildings have shifted the center of campus away from the quad, and while that is not necessarily bad, it shows the college is willing to change its landscape identity.
Péwé has hired alumnus Steve Rosselette to create an LMP.
The blueprints sit in Péwé’s office, with detailed drawings of shrubbery, trees and sidewalks.
Péwé encourages pedestrian suggestions but will not “throw up a sidewalk just because.”
The U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration states: “A good understanding of how all pedestrians … perform in sidewalk … environments can help designers determine how best to implement accessibility improvements to outdoor facilities.”
Péwé acknowledged two sidewalk design philosophies: those that lay sidewalks after watching pedestrians and those that lay sidewalks as part of a project. For now at least, Péwé and the college will not be studying walking paths before laying sidewalks, but he will, as always, consider pedestrian traffic flow.
The Federal Highway Administration, Péwé and Garcia agree: Designing sidewalks is a formidable task requiring numerous factors working in concert.
“Sometimes you deal with the landscape God gives you,” Péwé said.
“Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black / And the dark street winds and bends.”
Péwé, like most civil engineers, recognizes he cannot please everyone all of the time.
As the campus continues to grow and change its layout, a combination of respect and responsibility on the pedestrians’ side and attentive willingness to change on the administration’s side seems to be the best path.
Gonzalez is a Hillsdale College sophomore majoring in political economy.