Jason Mann

Thanks to an increase in bicycle traffic, students will soon have bicycle lanes on some campus streets.

The Students’ Association is working with the Physical Plant to have lane striping and marked signs up “before snow falls” for some and more finished in the spring, according to SA President Chris Daugaard.

But they are not stopping there – SA plans to propose bike lanes within the city of Brookings at the Oct. 14 city council meeting.

However, the lanes off-campus might not appear as quickly as those on campus.

“We would like to see something this fall, but the city process might not move as quickly as we’d like ?They have a lot of other big constructions projects right now,” says Daugaard.

The lanes on SDSU streets have been included in the Physical Plant’s budget, according to Daugaard. He says no student fee dollars will be used for striping or signs.

Safety and flow of traffic have been cited by Daugaard as the main reasons for adding bicycle lanes.

“Right now, it’s tough to tell anyone to get off sidewalks when we haven’t provided them with a safe place to ride,” says Daugaard.

While wheels will not be kept off campus sidewalks entirely, he says for the most part, they will be.

Daugaard warns that because not all streets are created equally in size, some lanes may have to replace on-street parking, but in very limited circumstances.

“We don’t anticipate losing on-campus parking, except maybe three reserved spots near Ag Communications,” says Daugaard.

He says the plan is to put the lanes on busier streets in order to keep as many parking spaces as possible and to keep a steady flow of traffic for everyone getting around on wheels, no matter how many are on the vehicle.