The City of Rochester began construction this week on the section of Kendrick Road between Lattimore Road and the Valentine Lot at the Graduate Living Center.
Nobody can deny that the street can use the work ? some of the potholes in the street could be described as ?bone-jarring and shock-absorber-destroying.? While some other roads in the UR vicinity also need improvement, such as Elmwood near Strong Memorial Hospital, no road needed repair as badly as Kendrick.
However, the City chose a horrible time to begin the repairs. Autumn has begun, and with cold, rainy and snowy weather on the way, construction will be difficult and delayed. Work should have begun and ended already, when weather and temperature would not have been obstacles ? in the summer.
UR shares some blame for the poor timing of the Kendrick Road project. As an influential member of the Rochester community, as the owner of Strong Memorial Hospital and as the biggest employer in this part of the city, UR should have encouraged the City to undergo construction during a more appropriate time of year.
Another problem that has arisen from the mess on Kendrick involves the scheduling of RTS Bus 70.
This bus, which provides service from CLARC to the Medical Center, Whipple Park, GLC and the River Road residences, has long been infamous for its unreliable service. It was announced at the start of the Kendrick Road project that transportation via Bus 70 would be operating on a delay until the road reopened at the conclusion of the project.
To those who rely on Bus 70 as their transportation to their jobs and residences in the Medical Center, Towne House, Whipple Park, Laser Lab and GLC, this is unacceptable.
A short period of adjustment as RTS and UR figure out the timing of the busses as a result of construction would be acceptable ? a general warning is not.
Reliable and efficient transportation between GLC, the River Road residences and the rest of campus is not a luxury, it is a necessity that must be provided for. When it comes to the construction on Kendrick Road, our needs as students and residents of UR are not being met in the most basic way. A large impediment for getting to and from class for students in GLC ? not to mention the residences on River Road, which are in Brighton ? has been erected and the administration has not stepped up to its responsibility to provide for this.
