Editorial 5.8, September 2003, by Deirdre Helfferich Pave It! Ester Dome Well, apparently Ester Dome Road is going to be paved all the way to the summit, to where the Ullrhavn used to be for those of you who have been around for a while. Score one for the lovers of asphalt and civilization (the process of turning wilderness into city). Don’t get me wrong—I like cities. They are nifty places, full of activity and life and cultural excitement. They are replete with art, music, convenience stores. They really are convenient. However, I don’t like urban sprawl, also known as suburbia, when it stretches for miles beyond the city borders. And I really don’t like pavement, as readers of this paper may know, outside of certain restricted borders. Part of the problem is that paved roads—roads in general—are dangerous. Our highways are littered with the dead, from the countless insects that ricochet off our windshields, to the occasional and foolish bird or squirrel, to the more noticeable moose or dog, to the child on a bicycle struck by the moving tons of steel. Paved roads are better for tires (less wear), easier to navigate (on bikes as well as in cars), and people go faster on them than they do on dirt roads. There’s less dust on a paved road (a lot less) which means less soil erosion. They are nice and smooth. At first. Then come the potholes. But, it turns out, maintenance is actually cheaper on a paved road than on an unpaved road. Or at least, that’s what I’m told. And since maintenance funds are harder to get than construction funds, it’s important to economize there. But with pavement comes more traffic. Ease of access. And ease of access means means an extension of suburbia. Do we really want Ester Dome to look like Chena Ridge? Does anybody out there remember picking berries on Chena Ridge? A lot of people pick berries on Ester Dome, which won’t be possible if the top of that hill becomes private land subdivided into little lots (just imagine: Berry Acres Estates subdivision, brought to you courtesy Mad Development, Inc. Never mind that most of those berries will be plowed under.). Many years ago, the few residents up there tried to get the top of the hill made into a public park—low maintenance and of benefit to the entire borough. They were too far-thinking. Ironically, it has been the miners that have saved Ester Dome so far: the mining claims that cover this hill (one of the richest gold-bearing hills in the state) have kept it from being covered by hundreds of buildings. The miners are keeping Ester Dome green. Dysfunction Junction The university has been under construction all summer, making getting to work and school an adventure for those who must go there. While staff and faculty have been receiving regular updates warning them which street will be closed today, visitors to the university get to guess—and if they guess wrong, sit around for ten to twenty minutes while trucks filled with dirt and gravel go rumbling by. Despite the inconvenience, dust, and noise, the changes are slowly becoming evident. Some of these will be welcome, while others, such as the reduced number of convenient parking places (and in particular, those with headbolts), are in danger of causing an academic riot. The museum’s new wing is finally taking a recognizable if skeletal shape, and the West Ridge’s new, winding central access road and grounds promise to create a parklike atmosphere between the research facilities there. While the landscaping and gardening have created a pleasant view both on lower and upper campus (or the potential for one, given the giant machinery trundling around all summer), it won’t be finished until next summer—and the parking situation won’t be resolved before then. So, if the desperadoes in the Ivory Tower get cold batteries, the time for the Headbolt Rebellion will soon be here. Keep your mittens on and your plugins at the ready. Another bit of excitement involves the newly paved and very sharp turn at the end of the road by the Experiment Farm. This used to be a straightaway, going directly on to lower campus and passing in front of the Patty Gym and student dorms. The turn area was made into an intersection many years ago with the road coming down from West Ridge and passing in front of the Butrovich Building where the university’s statewide offices are. It took a few years and numerous replacement signs before people stopped trying to drive straight on through as they had before. Big flashing lights and enough reflective signs for a fencepost finally helped counter the natural tendency of drivers to go straight. Now the designers have created a new twist to this particular intersection: they’ve sharpened the turn to more than a ninety-degree angle, doubling the road back on itself slightly, and added a pit just opposite where it starts to curve. Now, if any driver is so foolish as to ignore the big reflective arrows (or have the misfortune to slide on the turn when it is covered in ice), they will be conveniently dumped into the pit, where they will have to wait for campus security to come and ticket them. Now that’s a speed trap! | ||
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