By Cassandra Brown
Orange barrel construction cones line the road. Men in orange vests stop cars as traffic backs up in the small town.
Dinkel Avenue, one of the main thoroughfares through Bridgewater College, is under construction pending the completion of a new traffic-calming project. For the past three months, this main road used by the community to reach downtown Bridgewater has been crowded with idling cars and construction machinery.
Construction started August 15 and was expected to already be complete by last Friday. Weather was a factor in delaying the project for a few days, but the project is anticipated to be complete shortly according to Frank Breeden, project manager from A&J Excavating, to whom the majority of the project was contracted.
“It’s probably going to be middle of next week. [We are] trying to finish the middle [brick lane] and line stripers will come in the middle of next week,” Breeden said.
According to David Vandevander, director of plant operations who was the point of contact for the college’s point of view on the Dinkel Avenue project, the Town of Bridgewater submitted the project to VDOT and was expected to start earlier. “We were interested in doing the project over the summer, but it was subject to VDOT’s schedule,” he said.
The project was agreed upon by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) the Town of Bridgewater and Bridgewater College in an effort to make this stretch of road safer for students and drivers.
“With the number of cross walks and the traffic level on Dinkel there is always a potential for some type of accidents,” Vandevander said. “The intent is to slow the traffic down and at least approach the speed limit that has been set and also to restrict [cars] to one lane of traffic in each direction,” he said.
Some students believe a different tactic other than narrowing the road would have been more effective. “Speed bumps may have been more effective as it would have forced cars to slow down. With the new construction [of the narrowing road], slowing down is more of an option,” Tammy DePhillip said.
“In a realistic, financial manner it might have been the best choice to combine the most effective solution for the amount of money they had to spend,” Vandevander said.
The federally funded project costing approximately $450,000 will first be paid using the town of Bridgewater’s budget and “then reimbursed through state and federal funds allocated by VDOT,” according to the Town of Bridgewater 2012 budget report. “VDOT will cover 100% of this cost,” the report stated.
The new traffic pattern consists of a narrower one-lane road with concrete planters lining both sides of the street. The median now contains dispersed concrete planters, which the Town of Bridgewater will upkeep, and has been paved with brick material. Crosswalks are also highlighted with patterned brick material in an effort to make them more noticeable to drivers.
“The road is not nearly as wide as it was before. As people come into the area they will notice the road is narrower and it will provide the tendency for people to slow down,” Breeden said.
The college was also included in the design process of the project. “We had input into what we would like to see in some of the final design elements more of related to what type of paint over patterns and colors. So we tried to pick those and actually had our landscaping architects look at those to make sure they were in concert with where we will be going with the campus landscaping in the future,” Vandevander said.
The new road design is also hoped to encourage students to use the crosswalks on Dinkel.
“They are so visible and they represent so vividly where you should cross. I think it will improve [crossing]. I think combined with the design elements and the fact that you have to walk through planters, etc. they will be much more effective than what we had before,” Vandevander explained.
However, students are hesitant as to whether the new road will help protect them while crossing the street. “Since construction began cars seem less inclined to stop for students attempting to cross the street,” DePhillip said. “Before construction cars would slow down and stop as soon as they saw you.”
Students have also expressed concerns with the narrower road in reference to emergency vehicles, horse and buggies and cars passing each other. According to Vandevander, the road was narrowed 12 to 14 feet.
“I think that emergency vehicles are going to be slowed down because cars on the road are going to have trouble getting out of the way,” DePhillip said.
“I’ve already noticed tractor tire tracks in the plant beds along the roads,” Hunter Miller said.
Concerns with increased traffic flow on other college streets should not be a problem after the construction is complete according to Vandevander. “East College with parking on both sides of the road is still more difficult to navigate than Dinkel would be when this project was completed,” he said.
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