A person uses a crosswalk spanning Route 1 on Sept. 3, 2024. (Giuseppe LoPiccolo/The Diamondback)
Views expressed in opinion columns are the author’s own.
While living on North Campus last year at the University of Maryland, I quickly discovered a pet peeve that still frustrates me to this day. Maybe it’s because I’m an architecture major, or maybe it’s because I refuse to be what I can only describe as a phone zombie when walking, but the intersection from Lot Z to Knight Hall is the bane of my existence. 
You might think that statement is dramatic, but walking the path from Easton Hall to the architecture building makes it clear that the construction of the Purple Line at this intersection created pedestrian crossings that are not in line with how students walk through campus. 
Instead of creating a crosswalk between the sidewalk near the parking lot that directly crosses to the sidewalk in front of Knight Hall, pedestrians are given three options: take a left and walk uphill to the next crosswalk, only to walk downhill again. Turn right and you’ll have to walk till you get to the crosswalk, then walk back uphill. But the option I see most pedestrians choose is option three: look both ways and cross three lanes of traffic. 
The Purple Line is set to begin operating in 2027, and as of September 2025, more than 82 percent of the project had been completed. While construction continues to be ongoing on campus at this university, many sections are now completed, such as Rossborough Lane and Campus Drive. But even though much of the campus construction is done, the Purple Line will continue to harm pedestrians long after construction is completed.
Finishing these sections has led to the addition of new infrastructure on campus, such as a traffic light at the intersection of Campus Drive and Regents Drive. While some advocate that the new signal increases pedestrian safety, many bypass this light and head down a little further on Regents Drive and cross near the side of the physics building, which is north of the new signal. 

This secondary crosswalk poses new challenges because it’s more difficult for pedestrians to see incoming traffic from the light when cars are lined up to turn at the signal. There’s no easy fix — reducing the times between signal changes could be helpful for pedestrians, but could be harmful to drivers who may rush through them.
Purple Line construction on campus has not only changed how pedestrians navigate campus, but also how they now navigate micromobility users. A project undertaken by this university in 2024 reimagined bike lane connections throughout campus, outlining new lanes that this university has committed to making a reality. 
While this infrastructure is important for the safety of micromobility users, protecting them from the dangers of the Purple Line, they have become harmful to pedestrians. The two-lane bike lane added to Campus Drive has no barrier from the pedestrian sidewalk, making it easy for pedestrians to obstruct the lane from micromobility users, and has no signage at intersections where pedestrians frequently cross for micromobility users to slow down or stop. 
The common denominator in all these safety concerns is that these new interventions are a result of the Purple Line Construction. While this university is not in charge of the state-created construction project, it can analyze new pedestrian patterns and the ways existing ones may need to be modified because of Purple Line completion. 
These problems have easy solutions: create a crosswalk at Knight Hall that makes more sense for pedestrian crossing patterns, shorten the time between traffic signal changes at newly added traffic signals and create barriers between bike lanes and pedestrian sidewalks with stop signs or yield signage so pedestrians can cross the lanes safely. 
If this university does not understand the need for new safety conventions because of Purple Line construction, pedestrians could continue to be harmed after the construction ends.
Sophia Williams is a senior architecture major. She can be reached at sgw76@terpmail.umd.edu.

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