The Ad-Hoc Committee on Funding of Student Activities will seek to evaluate the funding of student activities and prepare recommendations for the MUSG senate, according to Legislative Vice President Jason Rae.,”By Joe Glass
About 200 Marquette students wiggled their way to the grand opening ceremony of the 11th Street Pedestrian Mall on Friday.
Free T-shirts and free food were the big draws, said Caitlin West, a junior in the College of Communication and the master of ceremonies for the opening. The event also included a ribbon-cutting ceremony, contests and music from Mobile Sounds, Marquette Radio's disc jockey service.
"It was great to see so many students at the event, especially on a Friday evening," West said.
West said dozens of students were lined up for the event 10 minutes before it was scheduled to start.
The mall, dubbed "Carbeen" by some because of its location between Carpenter Tower and Cobeen Hall, replaced the portion of North 11th Street that separated the two buildings. North 11th Street now continues on a "wiggle" around the east side of Carpenter Tower.
The mall features large walkways, lamp posts and patches of green space.
The idea for the mall arose out of concern for student safety, according to Toby Peters, associate vice president for the office of administration.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation originally planned to build a southbound entrance ramp to Interstate 43 on the corner of 11th Street and West Tory Hill Street. The location of the ramp was expected to cause vehicular traffic on campus to increase by 50 percent, a figure Peters called "unacceptable."
The university brought the concern to WisDOT, which then came up with the plan for the wiggle, Peters said.
"What we ended up with was a design that is safer for students and more efficient for the city," Peters said.
WisDOT Secretary Frank Busalacchi spoke briefly at the ceremony. He said he empathized with students about the hassle of the Marquette Interchange construction.
"We know this has been a tough situation, but in a year we'll be out," he said
Busalacchi said he thinks the wiggle plan "turned out terrifically."
"This wasn't a part of the original design, but new ideas evolved and we ended up with a situation that works well for everybody," he said.
The only task remaining for the project is the addition of traffic barriers on the north and south side of the mall, Peters said.
Cory Bergmann, a sophomore in the College of Engineering and Carpenter Tower resident, said the mall adds an element of safety.
"Since there's no dining hall in Carpenter, I'm running over to Cobeen all the time," he said. "It's nice not having to dodge traffic."
Several students said the mall is much nicer now that grass has been added.
"I don't now what it looked like last year," said Anna Kirchner, a freshman in the College of Health Sciences and Cobeen resident. "But it looks a lot better with the sod."
Peters said several future projects, including the construction of the new Law School building, will give the university additional opportunities to add green space.
"A lot dominoes are about to fall," he said.
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