Caroline Bryant
The Southern Editor
Alongside the extinction of the L.N. Pipkin Bandshell, the development of Adams Athletic Performance Center has one more flaw: its construction.
As an avid shuttle rider – especially on Martha’s bus – I see how frustrated the shuttle drivers and students get over the construction. Delivery trucks will be in the way of Circle Drive (the ROTC loop), blocking the shuttles in, causing the shuttle drivers to get out and tell the truck drivers to move.
Other times, shuttle drivers will reroute to different stops or wait for cement trucks to finish their job at the site before it’s all clear. Burdens like this add time to the rides, causing students to be late to class or the drivers to be late to their pick-up at off-campus apartments every 20 minutes or so.
Let’s use the top of the hour as an example. The shuttle will leave Lake Hollingsworth Apartments (LHA) at 5 p.m. It will arrive at Weinstein at 5:02 p.m., ROTC at 5:04 p.m. and then Hollis at 5:08 p.m. It will then arrive at LHA around 5:12 p.m., giving an eight-minute window for students to load on the next round.
One afternoon, the cement trucks were jamming traffic on Ingraham Avenue, so much so that the shuttle did not arrive back at LHA until 5:18 p.m. For someone who wanted to get back on the shuttle at 5:20 p.m. – as I needed to return to my apartment to grab a book and return to campus – I had to run to make it on time.
Though Martha explained that I didn’t need to run and that she would’ve picked me up from my apartment instead, I shouldn’t have to be worried about time in the first place. And if I’ve experienced it, other students probably have, too.
In a voluntary survey conducted on The Southern’s Instagram, 52% of students polled said they had been affected by the construction. The biggest concern was the erasure of the Campus Safety lot for student parking, now only accessible to construction workers. Voiced concerns came from sophomores Mya Hernandez and Kimberly Loomis, and junior Sami McAdams.
“The limited parking due to the construction has genuinely made me late to class,” Loomis said.
A nail in the road from the construction also gave Hernandez a flat tire.
Yet, Assistant Director of Security and Safety Rusty Longaberger said Campus Safety hasn’t received any complaints about the construction from students. And if there were complaints from the drivers, staff members like Martha would let them know.
“Martha is one of our really good drivers,” Longaberger said. “She likes to take care of you guys and make sure you’re on time, and Martha does not like to have anybody in her way.”
He also said that blockages from delivery trucks and reroutes are very minimal, with the help of the Lakeland Police Department. Their team has also worked with construction to make student mobility on foot more accessible.
“We made a walkway, actually two walkways, one going across from the gym…and the other one is just north of that which goes just across on the other side of the construction,” Longaberger said. “There were a lot of things we had to adapt to to make sure everyone has access over there.”
Rodda Construction, the contractor for the project, is used to adapting to student needs and minimizing obstacles. They’ve been on campus beforehand, constructing buildings like the Weinstein Computer Science building and the Robert’s Academy gym.
“They have to make sure they always stay cleaned up in the area,” Longaberger said. “I just saw one of the guys sweeping going from the gym when you come up from Ingraham, he was sweeping to make sure all that dirt that was coming out onto the path wasn’t there, so they stay clean and tidy to affect the least amount of students as possible.”
While no construction would be the ideal solution, it’s unrealistic. And since officers are unaware of student distress, the best way to enact change is to voice these concerns to them. Other than that, all we can do is hope Safety and Rodda continue doing their best until the building’s expected completion in the fall.
