The addition of bike lanes could benefit Butler University in a myriad of ways.

Creating bike lanes would improve the safety of everyone’s commute.

Adding these lanes would give cyclers a place to safely ride their bikes without having to weave between the walkers on the sidewalk or traffic on the street.

“The reason I get delayed is because I have to wait for people walking,” junior Thomas Brueggemann said.

“It will keep bikers away from regular pedestrians,” he said, “I almost clip someone every day.”

People can walk knowing that the possibility of a biker clipping them or running them down from behind is negligible.

This change to Butler’s infrastructure would also ease campus vehicular traffic.

Bike lanes would save drivers the frustration of knowing that they won’t have to be slowed down by someone riding a bike at a turtle’s pace.

They would also prevent drivers from worrying about colliding with cyclists.

The safety of bike lanes might encourage people to casually cycle on campus more often.

“If you have bike lanes, it would make you want to use your bike more,” freshman Matt Scheetz said.

Knowing that they can safely pedal to campus, more students might be inclined to ride their bikes instead of driving their cars, reducing the urgency of the parking issue on campus.

By reducing the demand for parking, a greater number of parking spaces would be available.

All these potentially beneficial outcomes make creating bike lanes an obvious choice.

Not to mention there are health and environmental impacts to constructing the bike lanes, such as reduced car emissions and increased student exercise.

They are a win for everyone on campus, from students to administrators.

Pedestrians can safely walk, cars can drive at a normal pace and bikers can have their own lane to ride in without any worries.

The university could also cash in on this opportunity through the new bike share program.

The bike lanes could increase the popularity of renting bikes from the Health and Recreation Complex, thus making a profit for the university.

Ultimately, the construction of bike lanes benefits everyone on campus and is an option that should be explored.