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Purdue Agriculture students have been presenting ideas to Indiana transportation officials for rerouting a two-mile stretch of U.S. 231.
The highway, which currently runs north and south through Purdue, is being relocated to alleviate traffic congestion on campus. The new route will also serve as an entrance to the university.
Purdue faculty Shorna Broussard (forestry and natural resources), Kim Wilson (landscape architecture) and Mick LaLopa (hospitality and tourism management) came up with the idea to turn the highway relocation into a student service learning project.
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Faculty and students look over students' designs for a highway relocation project before presenting the plans to community leaders. (Photo by David Umberger) |
“Three classes—Human Dimensions of Natural Resources, Community Planning and Design, and Hospitality and Tourism Sales and Service—took on different aspects of the project,” Broussard says. During spring semester, students worked on routes that would best accommodate the communities and nearby wetlands and designed plans for commercial shops, residential areas, and a recreational and health complex.
“The students presented their ideas in April to a panel of local community leaders, including the Community Advisory Committee for the U.S. 231 Relocation, Purdue engineers and landscape architects, and the local Convention and Visitor's Bureau,” Broussard says. “They said some of the students' plans were costly, but that several ideas could be applied to the road development.”
When the relocation is completed—projected in 2010—the new gateway to Purdue may include a legacy from some 2004 Purdue students.
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