Editor, Daily Nexus,

Students will be able to vote for the construction of the Broida Expressway in the upcoming Associated Students elections. This expressway is the critical element for connecting the bikepath, behind the library to the engineering building, through the Broida Plaza.

The absence of the Broida Expressway is the largest incongruity in the UCSB bicycle system. With at least 15,000 bicyclists on campus each day, only one route to East Campus is extremely inconvenient. Currently, community service officers are stationed between Broida and Webb halls to keep riders off of the pathway and to prevent possible collisions with pedestrians.

The construction of the Broida Expressway would unify the campus bicycle system into a circular loop and eliminate the safety hazards of mixing bicyclists and pedestrians in Broida Plaza. It is the long-awaited, final step in turning the campus bikepaths into a holistic, easy-to-use system.

The intercampus bikepaths enter at the west Isla Vista entrances to campus – the Trigo Road crossing, Pardall Road underpass and the El Colegio and Stadium roads crossing – and the East Campus Goleta Beach path. The inner campus paths can be taken around and through the whole campus, except that there is no direct route from Engineering I to the Pardall path. Students, faculty and staff must ride around campus past Campbell Hall, walk their bike across the inner campus footpaths, or, as is often the case, risk riding between Broida and Webb halls, the area of the proposed plan.

Voting yes on the Broida Expressway initiative means a $3 fee per undergraduate and graduate student per quarter, from Fall 2004 to Summer 2007. This is the necessary amount to complete the construction of the Broida Expressway. The path is closer to completion than it has ever previously been.

The design review committee has approved the proposed plan and over 2,600 undergraduate students have signed the petition to put the initiative on the ballot. All that remains before beginning construction of the path over Summer Quarter and creating the best campus bicycle network this country has ever seen is to vote yes on the Broida Expressway initiative.