“I make sure to drive when I have to work at night. Even though I’m only a block and a half away from my work, I just know that I’m not going to want to walk back late at night,” said Salas, Alameda, Calif., junior.

The city of Lawrence, in conjunction with the University of Kansas and the Oread Neighborhood Association, has developed the Oread Neighborhood KU Pedestrian Lighting Project in which lights will be installed along specified pathways leading from campus through the Oread neighborhood to Massachusetts Street downtown.

Elise Higgins, Topeka Senior and Community Affairs Director of the Student Senate Legislative Board said, “The project is overwhelmingly popular. There are a limited number of residents who want to change the style of the lights.”

The Oread neighborhood is in a historic district, which causes difficulties when choosing the style of lights to use on the paths.

“The biggest challenge that we have is finding the aesthetic look that both will meet historic needs and what will be acceptable to the residents of the neighborhood,” Theil said.

The style being considered is an LED bollard light that would stand less than two feet tall, be motion sensored to save energy and would cast the light downward at an angle to avoid light pollution, Theil said.    

According to comparison charts at eartheasy.com, an LED bulb that produces the same light as the average incandescent street lamp but uses 80 percent fewer watts, is more durable, and lasts more than 40 times longer.

"There will be signficant savings in energy and money," said Kimberly Hernandez, vice president of Environs, the environmental advocacy grou of the University of Kansas and the Lawrence area. The initials costs are high, but the benefit is worth the price tag, she said. 

The overall budget for the lighting project is $530,000.

The Student Senate and Student Safety committees donated $120,000, and the city of Lawrence has allocated $50,000 to the project. The rest of the funds have not yet been secured.

Theil said they have applied for federal grant funds through Transportation Enhancement (TE) and Community Development Block Grant in the amounts of $180,000 and $200,000, respectively.

Because of the recent increase in violent crimes in the area, the Oread Neighborhood Association along with the KU Student Senate first presented the idea of the lighting project to city officials in September.

According to crime statistics reported on the City of Lawrence Police Department Web site, violent crimes in the Oread neighborhood increased by more than 70 percent from 2008 to 2009.

 Andrew Fillmore, Belle Plaine sophomore, works as a desk assistant and security monitor at Corbin and usually walks to work from his residence at K.K. Amini Hall. Fillmore said he is concerned about the lack of lighting on his commute to and from work.

“I feel uncomfortable at times. I find myself looking back behind me just to make sure no one is there,” Fillmore said. “There is one light along the road that I walk on along Louisiana and I always feel safe as I walk past that light.”

Theil said city officials expect the primary path of the lighting project to be completed this year and they hope to secure funding to complete the secondary path by the end of the year, as well. 

“We are hoping that having a central pathway that is lighted will encourage people to actually use that, so it’s kind of like the safety in numbers idea.”