The PNW Student Government Association is launching the Campus Safety Initiative to improve student safety by installing a crosswalk between Lot 2 and Lot 3 on the Westville campus.

On Feb. 7, the SGA proposed the crosswalk by signing Resolution 17-01. After discussion with students and faculty, Riley Owens, sophomore communication student and Dean’s Leadership group officer, authored the resolution, which calls for a painted crosswalk and “State Law: Stop for Pedestrians” signs to be installed.

Currently, the sidewalk parallel to Lot 3 dead-ends at North Drive. The area is highly congested with students crossing North Drive from Lot 2 to get to class and traffic flowing from Lot 2 to U.S. 421.

“For no reason should we wait for someone to get injured in order to improve campus safety,” Zachary Jakubowski, SGA president at the Westville campus, said. “We would rather be proactive than reactive.”

The resolution was submitted to Brian Miller, PNW director of Public Safety, and introduced at the faculty senate meeting on Feb. 10.

If approved, it will be passed to Stephen Turner, vice chancellor for Finance and Administration, for capital funding. Without any major amendments or delays, construction could begin during Summer 2017. At the latest, SGA hopes the crosswalk will be installed by the end of the Fall 2017 semester.