The Attention-Getting Device

It’s that season again. Building season. The season of capital improvements. Summer. No students, no frost, no rain (at least by July), potentially meddlesome people off on vacation, so bust out the heavy machinery! And where better to start the summer than Athens’ own South Side?

The corridor along Richland Avenue has been in local news regularly, both as a hotspot for City, University and private development and as the location of two high-profile traffic accidents which have prompted intense debate over the adequacy of the current infrastructure. Since keeping up with all of the plans and issues is a real chore, The Attention-Getting Device presents a handy cheat sheet and visual reference, progressing from North to South along Richland Ave:


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The map appears courtesy of Google. Use the +/- buttons to zoom in and click on any blue area to read a more detailed description. If the map refuses to load in your browser, you can view it directly on the Google Maps site, or, if all else fails, download a jpeg picture version here.

A. Removal of Haning Hall at the intersection of Union and Richland and widening of the north end of Richland to a 2-way street. (OU, City of Athens, in discussion, no start date announced yet.)

B. Safety Issue: Pedestrian crossing between Grover and Porter Halls where an OU grad student sustained a serious head injury when he was hit by a truck in September of 2004. (OU, CoA, no solid plan for change.)

C. Construction of proposed new student health center on site of current tailgating field and welcome center across Richland from Peden Stadium. (OU, in discussion, no start date announced yet.)

D. Safety Issue: Richland Bridge site of a June 2007 accident where an OU graduate student was struck and killed by a drunk driver who allegedly ran a red light at the Richland/S.R.682 intersection. (CoA, see project below).

E. Widening of Richland Avenue Bridge to protect sidewalks and construction of proposed Richland/682 roundabout. (CoA, in site review and planning stage.)

F. Renovation or demolition of large sections of the Ridges complex. (OU, in discussion, no planned date.)

G. Construction of The Summit at Coates Run, an 870-bed student apartment complex, south of Dairy Lane behind the OU Inn. (Edwards Development, Columbus, in progress.)