Police omit barricades to study usefulness
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 11/11/2009
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The city is not putting up pedestrian barricades for the final home football game, and will use the results of a study on traffic volume and pedestrian traffic to determine when the barricades will be used again.
According to City Engineer David Buck, the city wasn’t planning on using the barricades for the final home football weekend once they factored in November weather conditions and Purdue’s performance during the football season.
“Since the barricades are filled with water, we were concerned that they would freeze and get damaged. We didn’t want to use an antifreeze mixture either,” he said in an e-mail. “Three of the last four games were away and we wanted to wait and see what kind of hype the game involved.”
Buck said the information gathered from the study during this semester was useful and a weekend without the barricades will help the city make comparisons.
“We got a good look at the traffic and pedestrian impacts during the weekends that we used them,” he said in an e-mail. “This weekend will allow us a contrast to observe traffic flow without them.”
According to Buck, there are a few immediate impacts known about the barricades from the study so far.
“They definitely slowed vehicular traffic and gave a wider space for pedestrians to move,” he said in the e-mail. “We are comparing that benefit with any impacts to travel time, traffic backups, accidents, access to property, parking, et cetera.”
West Lafayette Police Chief Jason Dombkowski said the study focused on “how the flow of traffic was affected on game day.” Dombkowski said the barricades were not necessary this weekend for the study.
Dombkowski also said Purdue’s football season didn’t play out in a way which large numbers of fans would be expected toward the end of the season.
“If they were making a run for a Big Ten title – but that’s not the case,” he said. “We might have needed to extend it if we were expecting huge crowds. I don’t think we’re expecting huge crowds for this last game.”
Buck said the city will determine in the next few months whether the barricades will be used during Grand Prix or next football season. In the meantime, according to Buck, there might be other uses for the barricades.
“They can, and likely will, be used for other large community events and festivals like Taste of Tippecanoe and Dancing in the Streets,” he said.