Daily Skiff

A new $90,000 walkway completed in September is making walking from the Worth Hills area to the Garvey-Rosenthal Soccer Stadium safer and more convenient for students, a university official said.

The walkway, which begins near the driveway leading to the former location of Pond Street Grill, passes over a creek and ends in the parking lot of the stadium.

University officials noticed people trying to walk across the area, said Robert Sulak, director of landscaping and grounds. Sulak said the area was covered with moss and algae, which made the ground slippery and dangerous to walk over.

The new walkway also allows people to avoid walking across Bellaire Drive, which can be very busy, Sulak said.

"The heaviest traffic is during football games, from people parking around the soccer fields and walking over to the stadium," Sulak said.

Senior nursing major Ashlee Mitchell said the walkway has made it much more convenient to walk to and from football games.

"Usually it's a hassle to find parking for the bigger football games, but parking at the soccer fields and walking over on the bridge is really convenient," Mitchell said.

Morgan Grall, a senior fashion merchandising major, said she thought the walkway would be very useful for fans to walk to football games, and for people living in Worth Hills who play intramural sports.

"It may not have been the best use of money but at least it is being used by someone," Grall said.

Senior nursing major Mary Mahon agreed that the money used for the walkway could have been better spent. Mahon said that while people living in Worth Hills will benefit if they play intramural sports, there wasn't a need for a walkway in the area.

"It takes all of maybe 10 seconds at the most to walk around the creek," Mahon said. "People are just lazy."

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