I got a lot of commentary on last Friday’s picture, most of it about the two-way traffic on the loop rather than the eye catching fashion:
By happenstance I just ran across the memo that authorized the shift to one-way on this road. Note that Rupp says it’s a one year trial. (I understand all the annotations, by the way. Such are the fruits of my misspent youth.) But also note that pesky little “again” in the first sentence, which suggests that this is a reversion to a prior state of affairs. I guess this case is not yet closed.
This image from 1941 makes it look like the traffic sometimes went more ways than two:
Bonus: There’s a lot of construction on campus this summer, but this is my favorite project, a badly needed renovation of Anderson Bio. The photo was sent in by loyal reader Jenn Drummond ’98, who explains:
This renovation project is pretty amazing — the whole ground floor of that side of the building gutted, with interior walls removed, all the way from Dr. Caprette’s teaching lab on the GRB end to the rooms near the breezeway that used to be the EEB department office.
I’ve been assured by the highest authority that the marble panels will be reused.
Those hippies are still sitting on the ground! Get off my yard!
Never mind.
Made me laugh, Leonard. Thanks!
Aww, that area being renovated in Anderson was where I spent some very happy years, 1980 to 2011, to be precise. Well, moved my office upstairs to have some windows for the last few years. Paul Harcombe, David Queller, and I and all our students have very fond memories of that space, disfunctional as it was. I wonder if this renovation will be enough to stop the annual termite flights that happened inside,towards the back of the building.
Sure is a new shiny Packard. Must be a rich faculty owner.
I am so happy that loop is one way now. I had a bad bike wreck on that loop in 1986. I was coming in the road that now bounds the Central Garage towards the RMC. Just past the road that goes north-south at the RMC, there was a parked car. There was a shuttle bus coming the other way. (two-way traffic, remember?). As soon as the bus passed the parked car, I shot ahead. Unfortunately for me, the previously-invisible driver decided at that moment to open her car door. My handlebar caught the door. I flew threw the air quite a ways, and landed on my back. I slid down the road (shredding my backpack and shattering my calculator). When I stopped, my feel were still clipped into the petals, and the bike fell over. My glasses had flown away. The driver came over to me, said, “Are you OK?”. I said “No!”, and she got into her car and drove away. Help started arriving after that, finding my glasses, and helping me untangle from my bike. Nobody got the plate number of the car. My bike needed a lot of repair, I had to replace my backpack and calculator. I was OK but was very sore and stiff for days. Not having transportation to and from campus sucked; it was about a 45 minute walk as opposed to a 10 minute bike ride.
I was so happy when they made the loop one-way. The shuttles were the big problem, actually; the road was barely wide enough for them to pass one another. They added those shuttles in 1985 or 1986 when they opened Gradlands. Good for Rice, but the loop had to be one way for them to operate safely. IMHO.
1941 or 42 Packard Clipper (you can tell by the smaller grille and hood ornament) Packard’s newly-introduced lower-price line. Also a 1941 Ford woody, which wouldn’t have been cheap. The car coming up the road is a 1936 Ford Deluxe. Facing away from us is a 1941 Ford convertible. Since no one is obviously moving stuff, I wonder if this was some kind of faculty meeting or orientation event. I can eventually identify the cars facing away, but I don’t know that it’s really necessary.
I remember some very unpopular speed bumps on the inner loop around this time.
This time being the late 80s – early 90s.