Falcon Heights is in desperate need of a proper crosswalk with crosswalk signs. This dorm, located off of Thurstin Street and North College Drive, on East Merry Avenue, is a popular road for cars to frequent. Cars often use Falcon Heights as a turnaround lane in the picking-up or dropping-off area for students.
While I love living in Falcon Heights, my least favorite part is crossing the street, especially when it is getting darker earlier every day. I feel like my commute to class or my on-campus job takes longer than it should since I have to wait for cars to pass or slow down in order for me to cross safely.
There is a place to cross the road by Merry Avenue and College Drive, but students frequently cross the pathway in the middle of Merry Avenue, which is dangerous. Cars do not slow down to give pedestrians the right of way, even though there are white lines on the roads showing that pedestrians can cross there.
Arguably, the turn off of Thurstin Street to Merry Avenue leaves little room before the crosswalk, where a driver may not notice the crosswalk area until it is too late to slow down. I think simply adding a sign or two would be extremely helpful and would help alert drivers to slow down or stop. These signs are not unprecedented, as there is one on Merry Avenue near the Psychology Building.
Falcon Heights houses an average of 650 students per year. Even if each student only left their dorm once to go on campus and returned once for the night, there would be at least 1,300 crossings, not counting visitors and other frequent crossings by students.
This shows that the two crossroads are used often, yet there is no crosswalk sign, unlike several that are located on Wooster Street for Founders Hall, Kohl Hall, Centennial Hall and Greek Life housing. Bowling Green recently added more crosswalks on Wooster Street to help improve pedestrian accessibility and safety, according to a Falcon Media report.
Unlike other dormitories that may have several exits and go onto a street or campus sidewalks, Falcon Heights only has one exit accessible to most residents in the lobby that leads to Merry Avenue and students must cross the street at some point to get to the main area of campus.
Falcon Heights is one of the newer dorms on campus, but it has been part of the campus community since 2011. 11 years is far too long for BGSU students not to have a safe crossing to get to class. The City of Bowling Green and BGSU should consider adding at least one or two crosswalk signs so that their students feel safer walking around campus.
