In today’s hard economic times, owning a vehicle is not necessarily guaranteed — especially for students.
Walking and biking around campus are daily activities for most MSU students, and it is becoming increasingly common to see students jogging, walking or riding bicycles around Starkville.
Anna Morales, sophomore majoring in psychology, said people underestimate the number of students without vehicles.
 ”It’s just assumed that everyone has a vehicle for transportation, but a surprising amount of students actually don’t,” Morales said. “I know of several students who rely on their bikes to get them around campus and Starkville.”
Such students have found themselves disappointed with Starkville’s lack of pedestrian-friendly accommodations.
Devon Brenner, president of Starkville in Motion, said the biggest pedestrian problem in Starkville is the lack of infrastructure.
“Since the mid-1940s, there have not been any requirements to build sidewalks. This means that all of our new developments and city areas built in the last 70 years do not have sidewalks, and many of the roads don’t have shoulders. There’s literally no place to walk or ride a bike on most of the city roads,” Brenner said.
According to Brenner, Miss. Highways 12 and 182 are major problem areas for pedestrians. There are several businesses on these two highways, but there is no safe place for pedestrians to walk.
However, there is some good news for pedestrians. Last year, the Board of Aldermen enacted a sidewalk ordinance. The ordinance requires all new construction, along with some renovations, to have sidewalks.
Brenner said the sidewalk ordinance is essential to the city becoming more pedestrian friendly.
“I’m excited about this new law. We’re already seeing some changes,” Brenner said. “As the city builds new streets, they’re putting sidewalks along them. For example, there’s a brand new sidewalk along Reed Road that connects a low income housing neighborhood to Highway 12. There will be sidewalks along the new Pat Station Road extension. Some new businesses are putting in sidewalks, as well.”
Brenner said it will be a slow process, but that the results will be worth it.
“For a while, there will be an odd patchwork of sidewalks, but eventually, there will be sidewalks almost everywhere, and slowly, the city can begin to connect the pieces of sidewalks together to create connections,” Brenner said.
Ron Cossman, Lynn Lane Committee Chair of SIM, said more changes are currently in the works, and students could see changes as soon as next spring.
“SIM is working with MSU and Starkville to designate one or more lanes in the Thad Cochran Research Park for pedestrians and cyclists only,” Cossman said. “It is a pleasant one-mile loop and many people already use it to walk, jog and walk their dog.”
Cossman said SIM is making major progress toward Starkville and MSU’s campus becoming a walk able community.
“As the university campus becomes more pedestrian friendly and pushes vehicles to the perimeter of the campus, I think you will see more and more students, faculty and staff walking to classes and work,” Cossman said.
Brenner said in addition to the help from SIM and Starkville’s changes for pedestrians, another way to make the city more pedestrian friendly is action from the pedestrians themselves.
“If everyone who lives in 21 Apartments wrote the manager and asked for a safer crosswalk to get to campus, the managers might start working with the county to provide that,” Brenner said. “If everyone who wants to ride a bike to the Piggly Wiggly or the bank asked the owners for a bike rack, they’d get installed. The more we speak up, the sooner we’ll get more sidewalks, bike racks and bike lanes.”