The pathway to Pioneer Village is complete after one week of construction, creating a new walkway on the left side of the curving road for students to walk to and from Pioneer Village and connect with the main campus.

The original plans did not include a walkway because of the width of the road, according to Shad Crowe, vice president for emergency management at the college.

Originally, students were given about a foot of space to walk on between the road which was separated by a weighted-down orange barricade. Crowe said the barricades by the original walkway were safe but there was need to build one because there was a hazard.

“Students routinely were not walking in the designated walkway and instead walked in the roadway-causing a hazard,” Crowe said.

Students like Senior Kristina Barth use the walkway regularly and are looking forward to the new path. But she had some concerns regarding it.

“I think it’s dumb they’re doing it now because they didn’t anticipate a walkway when the road was first made last year and then there was the barrier,” Barth said. “They realized in the middle of the semester that there needed to be a walkway.”

She also mentioned concerns about the orange barrier, she felt as if the cars would almost hit each other because there was not enough space for them to pass each other.

“I feel like this walkway is good because it gives the cars a little bit more space and on top of that we’re a little bit further from the road,” she said.

Barth thinks this walkway should’ve been done over the summer or at any other point but is still glad that the walkway is done because it was necessary.

Students were instructed to use an alternate route to walk back and forth from their rooms to campus. The alternate route was to walk around the dome from the right side of the football stadium. Some students, like Senior Mikiany Pena, found this other route inconvenient.

“It was inconvenient because the issue that some students had issues getting to and from their classes on time,” Pena said.

Despite the route that students have to navigate, Pena acknowledged that this walkway was necessary as well to make students safer when walking to campus as the cars drive by.

Students will have to do this elongated route past the dome once the street lights are put in. Crowe indicated that the lights will be up in the near future.

But with winter coming, both students are looking forward to using the pathway to keep their feet dry as they march through the snow to classes and finish the rest of the semester.