Horizons Online Edition

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Driving down Willow Creek Road on a Saturday students have seen that the entrance to campus on Rummel Road is closed, causing many drivers to make a U-turn down at the dealerships or quickly turning around on Willow Creek Road to use the new roundabout entrance.

During the Thanksgiving holiday Campus Safety Chief Harry Boden and Dean of Students Jim Kula sent out a campus wide email explaining that the entrance at Rummel Road connecting Willow Creek and Doberteen Road will be closed on weekends and weeknights for traffic control purposes. The road closure is mostly for the "protection of student property, the campus and the university," explains Campus Safety Officer Holly Landers.

The road will also be closed during holidays and special events to help regulate traffic and to make use of the light on the intersection of Willow Creek Road and Heritage Park Road. The light at the roundabout is useful during the busy weekday hours when students, faculty and staff are coming and going through campus. "The road closure has worked really well, " stated Safety Officer Bill Jacobson, "we tested it during graduation."

Many students feel the road closure causes more traffic problems then it solves. Electrical Engineering student Jeffery Dronenburg feels the road closure is "annoying because it is the main access point for the dorms and it is more convenient."

"So many people use it on a day to day basis and many people don't know how to use the roundabout and they don't obey the yield signs," explains Raquel Perkins, a third year Aeronautical Science major.

Rumors that the Rummel Road entrance was being phased out to make way for the new roundabout last semester worried many students. "Originally that was the idea but we are going to keep all three entrances," said Landers.

Rummel Road is closed Monday through Friday, midnight to six in the morning and on the weekends starting on Friday at midnight to Monday morning.

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