OP-ED: It doesn’t seem worth it right now

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Rachel Crawford, fed-up junior

Rachel Crawford, Managing Editor

Most everybody on campus is getting very annoyed with all the construction, me included.

First, construction blocked off Bosque’s parking garage for a month, when they said it would only last a little over a week. People were forced to park on the streets for pretty much the first month of school. And if you left campus, you were not guaranteed a legal parking spot. Some Bosque residents even left their cars in the garage because they were given a week timeframe, not an entire month.

Now, fences are blocking off most of Vanderbilt Street, all the way up until the Student Center. The fences were first put up about a week ago, and construction on the road didn’t even start for a couple days after. The construction on the street next to the parking lot by Bosque wasn’t even complete and they were putting up more fences to start even more construction.

Apparently the people planning the construction haven’t heard the saying, “Finish what you started before you start anything new.” I get being prepared in advance, but when it’s blocking students from getting to class, that’s a little ridiculous.

The construction in front of Bosque should have been finished before they even thought about putting fences up for more construction. Students had to take extra time to walk to class just to get around the fences.

Now, it takes me an extra five minutes to walk around all the fences and get to class. Minutes I could be using to eat, sleep or study. I know five minutes doesn’t sound like much time, but when you’re rushing to eat lunch between work and class, five minutes is a long time.

I mean, the one good thing to come out of all the extra walking is adding a few extra steps on my Fitbit. Those few steps may not seem like a lot, but walking around construction to get to class and work adds up a lot of steps. But it’s still ridiculous that I have to go out of my way to get to class.

I would also like to know why the construction on the road was not started (and finished) during the summer. It would have been the smarter thing to do because there are less people on campus and the construction workers wouldn’t have to worry as many people walking past the sites and offsetting a lot of people for parking. Also, the staff that parks in the parking lot in front of the Math building would not have to keep switching entrances to the parking lot.

It also seems a little ridiculous to fix a road that is closed off to the public for driving, like the section of Vanderbilt that runs in front of the Student Center.

I know pretty much everybody on campus is fed up with construction; it’s getting old and we’re tired of having to switch things up to accommodate for it, like how some students are housed at Bosque because their rooms aren’t finished yet.

I know that the construction will help house more students and Tarleton can grow, but when it can’t seem to be finished and is causing more trouble than good, can you really say it’s all worth it right now?