Potential plans for the Mell Corridor were proposed in front of community members, students, faculty and staff in the Foy ballroom. Questionnaires were distributed for the audience to fill out as representatives from Facilities Management presented various alternatives for how the Mell Street space could be developed.
Tommy Holcombe, landscape architect, presented the preconstruction conditions of the Mell Street area, then began to show future possibilities for the area surrounding the Mell Classroom Building. Holcombe said the simplest option they could do is keep the street like it was and have the street be left open.
"That's the reason we're here is to see if we can come up with a better way to do that," Holcombe said.
Options like closing off the street and converting the area into a pedestrian plaza, having a pedestrian plaza with a one-way transit path, and two way bike lanes were proposed. Other options included relocating the library service lane and Mary Martin Hall's service lane to improve the parking area around Ross Square and adding a new transit stop by Ross Square.
Variations and combinations of these ideas were depicted on PowerPoint slides for the audience to view as they completed their surveys. Some included adding permanent welcome stations at the intersection of Mell Street and Roosevelt Drive or at Mell Street and Thach Avenue.
Connor Taunton, freshman in architecture, said he while he thought there were many good ideas presented, he wondered why changes could not also be made to other parts of campus.
"Why can't we also do this to Thach as well and close that off to just pedestrians and transit?" Taunton said. "That would connect nicely to the new Samford development where they have the new walkway with all of the trees and Toomer's Corner."
Stone Ray, freshman in architecture, said the ideas proposed at the forum seemed to favor driver access.
"It’s progress, but I still feel that, from what I saw on the screen today, [this] was still leaning more towards satisfying automobiles than pedestrians," Ray said.
Placing roundabouts at crowded intersections was another idea proposed at the forum. One option presented was to add a roundabout to the Roosevelt Drive and Mell Street intersection and another was to add one with pedestrian walkways at the intersection of Samford Drive and Mell Street.
Ray said he thinks roundabouts only work if they'd be tight enough for the pedestrian to feel comfortable as well.
"Balancing that congestion at Samford and Mell is hard but also accommodating the pedestrians as well," Ray said. "I think the only appropriate place for one would be the Samford intersection."
Holcombe said at this point, anything is a possibility, but thinks the "idea of [a] one way Mell" street is worth looking into.
"We've got one more place where we have the potential to make it more pedestrian friendly, more usable," Holcombe said. "It's really all about the students, so that's what we're trying to do is make sure they're happy."
Ray said he would like to see a situation where the Mell Street area was redone as a pedestrian plaza with temporary access for cars and busses.
"[That could work] especially in the summer time if the kids aren't here, cars could use it," Ray said.
Taunton said he disagreed with Ray about having driver access on the potential pedestrian plaza.
"I think it should be solely pedestrian and transit except for in the summer months when there are fewer students around," Taunton said. "Students shouldn't have to worry, 'Oh, what time is it? Am I going to be hit by a car today?'"
Ben Burmester, campus planner, said the next step was to gather input from the forum and develop new options and take them to different constituents such as Tiger Transit, the City of Auburn and SGA.
The next open forum will be held in September 2016, where the three to five main ideas will be presented to the public, according to Burmester.
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