Looking Both Ways Might Not be Enough

Photo Courtesy of Kevin Lieue ’26

Over my three and half years as a student here at Connecticut College, I have increasingly come to appreciate and love our campus. There are certainly more physically impressive campuses in the country, located in bustling metropolitan areas or tucked away in scenic valleys and offering amenities we can only dream of here in New London. However, as a small liberal arts college, we check many boxes—in flora, architecture, walkability, classrooms, and social spaces. Of course, I do have some grievances, such as inconvenient parking, crowded dining halls, and sub-par dorms, to name a few. But our campus has one critical flaw that stands out above all else. 

Mohegan Avenue Parkway (officially Route 32) slices like a hot knife through what would otherwise be the heart of campus. While most of the campus sits elevated above the bustling highway, Mohegan Avenue serves as a boundary between the main campus and our athletic facilities, waterfront, and student apartments. It barricades the campus from its potential as a magnificent continuous downhill slope, which would rival any college campus in the world for walkability and beauty. I dream of a day when students could stroll uninterrupted from the highest point on Temple Green down to the banks of the Thames River, and if I could wipe Mohegan Avenue from the face of the earth—I would. 

Unfortunately, this is an impossible dream. However, I do believe it is possible to create a more natural connection between the campus’s two halves. In fact, plans to do precisely this already exist. In 2022, the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments, in coordination with the city of New London and the CT Department of Transportation, created the “Route 32 Corridor Study”. Released in May of last year, the final proposal focuses on turning Route 32 into a “lower speed community street” by creating a wider tree-lined central median, adding bike lanes, widening sidewalks, and improving crosswalks. It’s an excellent proposal and would be transformative for the campus, creating the exact natural connection I previously described. However, as is often the case with these kinds of projects, the next steps are unclear, and there is no telling when—if ever—these alterations will happen. 

But waiting for long-term alterations to Mohegan Avenue is frankly unacceptable. While the pedestrian bridge that leads to the Athletic Center provides a safe connection between the two halves of the campus (and plans exist to improve its accessibility in the future)—the crosswalks on Mohegan Avenue do not. 

There are three main crosswalks along Mohegan Avenue: one at the entrance to the athletic center, one at the College’s main entrance, and one that crosses to Deshon Street/River Ridge Road. For students living in the Ridge or Winch apartments, the main entrance and Deshon Street crossing serve as the quickest and most convenient routes up to the main campus. As a resident of the Ridges, I use this crosswalk daily to reach campus. Anyone who has used them can tell you, though, that those crosswalks are straight-up dangerous, and I honestly can’t believe more hasn’t been done to improve their safety. 

Since moving into the Ridges, I have almost been hit by vehicles on two different occasions while crossing Mohegan Avenue. And let me be very clear: I follow the pedestrian crossing signal religiously. Vehicles frequently blow straight through the red light—with and without pedestrians actively crossing the street. It’s only a matter of time before someone gets seriously hurt or worse—and it’s happened before. In 2015, a student was tragically killed in a hit-and-run on Mohegan Avenue, right in front of the College’s main entrance. 

And let’s address the elephant in the room. The most traffic these crosswalks get is at night when students have been drinking, going to, or returning from parties at the Winches and Ridges. Luckily, the vehicle traffic during these late-night periods is nothing compared to the rush hour traffic, but adding intoxicated individuals into an already sketchy and dangerous situation is a recipe for disaster if the crosswalks are not made safer. 

It isn’t just pedestrians who are in danger on the road. I can’t tell you how many car accidents I’ve seen on Mohegan Avenue over my years at Conn, but I know of at least three this year alone—two of which took out the end of the barrier in the median, which will now have to be reconstructed (again). That barrier is no more than 30 feet from the crosswalk, so a tragic accident is not hard to imagine. 

But what makes Mohegan Avenue so dangerous for pedestrians and vehicles? I am far from a highway design expert, but between my observations and the data collected from the Route 32 Study, there seem to be a few glaring flaws with the highway’s design. Above all is the speed of vehicles on the road. The posted speed limit on Mohegan Avenue is a laughable 35 miles per hour. I say laughable because I don’t think I’ve ever seen a car do anything less than 45 miles per hour on the road—and cars usually go even faster. 

While we must resolve the consistent speeding, the bigger issue is that Route 32’s design almost encourages speeding. Perhaps it’s the design of the on-ramp in front of the Coast Guard Academy, which forces drivers to accelerate rapidly to match the already high speeds of the cars in the travel lanes. Or maybe because the road is so wide, parts of I-95 feel like a backcountry lane, which naturally promotes speeding. It might even be because, between the narrow concrete median, metal guardrails, and lack of attractive flora, the road is simply so ugly visually that drivers speed to get off of it as fast as possible. I’m kidding with that last point (kind of), but if it weren’t for the splattering of traffic lights along the road, Mohegan Avenue would essentially be a commuter freeway. 

It’s clear that the average vehicle speed on Mohegan Avenue is too fast for the amount of pedestrian traffic the road gets—so what’s been done to reduce speeding and improve pedestrian safety? Shockingly little. At some point in the last couple of years, radar stations were added at two locations on the road that flash police colors when a car breaks the speed limit (meaning they go off constantly). However, these stations seem as useful at reducing speeding as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest. The College makes some effort to encourage using the pedestrian bridge rather than the crosswalks. Still, it’s unrealistic to expect people not to take the fastest route up to campus from the Ridges and Winches (which the pedestrian bridge is not). 

The obvious long-term solution to Mohegan Avenue’s problems is the alterations proposed in the Route 32 Study. However, given the likely timeline for a project of that caliber—waiting for its completion is unacceptable. Making Mohegan Avenue safer for pedestrians and cars is long overdue, but several obvious short-term solutions exist. First, simply adding more signage to warn drivers of the crosswalks. ZERO signage of this kind currently exists. These signs can be purchased and installed in a matter of days, so why this has not happened is beyond me. Second, the introduction of a speed enforcement program. While this does involve the cooperation of local and state police, these programs (done with either speed traps or an autonomous camera) can be highly effective in reducing speeding on certain roads. Finally, if the College truly wanted to take pedestrian safety seriously and these other options weren’t possible, then (while this might seem extreme) the crosswalks should be removed entirely, forcing the use of the safe route across the pedestrian bridge. I don’t love this option, but I would rather see my daily commute increased by a few minutes than someone get hurt crossing that street. 

While Mohegan Avenue may be a frustrating aspect of our campus design, it does not mean we should lay down and accept its issues. While I won’t be around to see it, the future alterations to Mohegan Avenue laid out in the Route 32 Study are extremely exciting and will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the campus. But in the meantime, the safety of students, faculty, and staff is at risk every day on Mohegan Avenue. Whether they come from the College, the city of New London, or the state of Connecticut, changes to improve the safety of Mohegan Avenue need to happen—and quickly—before it is too late.