Improvement efforts cause headaches

It always amazes me when people talk about how beautiful our campus is. Really, it’s not that beautiful.

Tech is a very strange hodge-podge of various architectural styles. From the aged beauty of Cherry Street to the high-tech, imposing fortress that is the new College of Computing, Tech has a style that is both all its own and not quite a style. Don’t get me wrong, I like it that way. It’s very Tech.

But this is not what I really want to write about. What I want to write about is the seemingly endless desire to improve campus.

I appreciate the thought, but putting that thought into practice is a total nightmare for students, most of whom will not be here to appreciate the final product. Additionally, beyond planting flowers and the like, I think it’s difficult to improve such a mismatched campus. Still, it is a good idea in theory.

Let’s start with the Fifth Street Bridge. Actually, I’ll have to revoke my previous statement about good ideas.

That bridge is the worst idea I’ve heard in a long time; seeing it put into practice is just painful.

In theory, a nice campus park that integrates Tech Square with the rest of campus sounds pleasant.

I don’t think it will be quite the planned idyllic garden of paradise. Do they honestly think that a park over I-85 is going to be a hit? Just because you can’t see the interstate doesn’t mean you can’t hear it. Or smell it. I am highly skeptical that it will be quite the oasis of “collegiate tranquility” that Frank Lamia, a Facilities project manager, suggests.

My qualms with this project don’t stop there, however. There is the small matter of me graduating before the bridge is completed.

In the meantime, I have the exhilarating and terrifying opportunity to attempt the trip to Barnes & Noble without getting killed. Crossing the road was bad enough before—I’ve noticed that Atlanta drivers don’t seem to understand the concept of a crosswalk. Now with all the various fences and pieces of construction equipment, it is exceedingly challenging to see cars coming, and I know they’re not watching for me.

I wish they could just close the bridge to vehicular traffic and let the pedestrians cross in peace. Sort of like they’re doing with Ferst Drive near Atlantic Avenue. Only in that case, I wish they would open that stretch of road.

The new Stinger route just isn’t working for me. I understand the need for a new Nanotechnology building and for utility relocation (whatever that really means). Really I do. But I’m tired of dirt and fences and rerouted Stingers. Campus improvements are great; I guess I’m just frustrated that I have to be here for the “under construction” phase rather than the “finished product” phase.

There is also the added problem of lost parking. Because of construction on Ferst, we have lost many W24 parking spaces, and the parking spaces on Ferst between Atlantic and State streets won’t be replaced.

Although this doesn’t affect me, I sympathize with my car-parking classmates who face yet another GT Parking challenge.

While I could say more about this charming project (such as the fact that the project has been going on since November), I think it’s time to move on.

Because Ferst area construction will at least have a purpose, eventually. There is one more construction project that, like the Fifth Street Bridge, I cannot understand.

The Student Center staircase—why? There was nothing wrong with those stairs; they were perfectly functional. Really, how complicated do stairs have to be? I don’t know that I’m entirely sure why they’re working on them.

This is yet another construction project that will cause more problems during its completion than benefits upon its conclusion. Let me express how much I love when the stairs are closed and I have to go outside or wedge myself onto an elevator with 20 other unfortunate students trying to go upstairs; it used to be so simple.

In the end, what are we getting from this project? A more modern-looking Student Center, I guess. Oh, and that new flat screen television, which I think is just great—if only it wasn’t covered by construction-time tarps.

In the end, Tech construction seems to add up to a waste of time and money. Besides the escalated mismatched look of campus, the eternal piles of dirt and loud noise negate the goal of improvement. Maybe the finished projects will prove me wrong. But until then, I guess I’ll just start toting my hard hat with me when I walk to class through multiple construction sites.

In the end, what are we getting from this project? A more modern-looking Student Center, I guess. Oh, and that new flat screen television, which I think is just great—if only it wasn’t covered by construction-time tarps.

In the end, Tech construction seems to add up to a waste of time and money.

Besides the escalated mismatched look of campus, the eternal piles of dirt and loud noise negate the goal of improvement. Maybe the finished projects will prove me wrong.

But until then, I guess I’ll just start toting my hard hat with me when I walk to class through multiple construction sites.