Sarah Mead
Staff Writer
smead@murraystate.edu
The Student Government Association presented the city of Murray with a resolution of appreciation on Wednesday, Jan. 22.
SGA President Trey Book thanked Murray Mayor Bob Rogers and the city of Murray for their support of the University. The city is responsible for providing the speed tables on 16th Street as an attempt to improve student safety on campus.
“We voted and approved a resolution of appreciation to the city of Murray for the new speed tables on 16th street,” Book said. “We would like to formally thank you all and give you this resolution. Thank you all for the continued support that you all provide to our students.”
Rogers said that the plans to improve student safety on 16th Street have been controversial, but he believed student safety to be the most important factor.
“When I took office last January, I found some plans of things that were discussed for 16th Street many years ago, but nothing ever happened,” Rogers said. “As I drove up and down 16th Street, I saw a lot of students and staff members crossing 16th. A lot of times, they were looking at [their cell phones] and I was afraid that someone was going to get hit and have a serious injury.”
Rogers also gave credit to Jim Osborne, the city administrator, for having noticed similar speed tables at other college campuses and encouraging their placement in Murray.
Rogers, Osborne and the city council worked with University leadership and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to implement the changes. Funding for the project was sourced from gasoline tax dollars that was repurposed for city safety.
“In Kentucky, cities get a portion of the gasoline tax money,” Rodgers said. “They keep ten percent of that tax money for emergency purposes. We wrote our proposal and made our case. We were pleased to hear that they were funding this project.”
President Bob Jackson also expressed his thanks to Rodgers and the city of Murray for the update.
“The speed tables [are] an important project,” Jackson said. “For the city of Murray and for their good work, thanks again.”
Jackson also offered advice to students to use the new speed tables properly. He encouraged the students to walk on the speed tables or crosswalks to ensure their safety.
“On top of the speed tables is a crosswalk,” Jackson said. “The speed tables slow traffic down so you can walk across the top. Try to use the crosswalks on top of the speed table. ”