FAYETTEVILLE -- The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville's traditional Senior Walk grows ever longer as it commemorates each graduating class, with the section for this year's class the first to involve the university negotiating with private property owners to allow construction.
Sidewalks are engraved with the names of graduates, typically one year after they earn their diplomas, and more than 170,000 names can now be found on campus walkways, according to UA's website.
Many, if not all, of the 2018 graduating class will see their names on the east side of Arkansas Avenue, Mike Johnson, UA's associate vice chancellor for facilities, said in an email. The east side of the street is dotted with fraternity houses and a couple of UA buildings, as well as some privately owned property.
The location is across the street from ample campus lawns as well as academic buildings like Old Main. A sidewalk running along the west side of the street already includes the names of graduates from 2016 and will soon have the names of 2017 graduates, Johnson said.
The planned new Senior Walk section might appear to be outside a campus border, but the university considers the sidewalk area on the east side of Arkansas Avenue to be part of the main campus, Johnson said.
City engineer Chris Brown said in an email that Arkansas Avenue -- about a third of a mile long -- functions as a city street but is "actually fully on the UA property." Johnson said in an email that "our UA property line essentially goes to [the] east side of the sidewalk edge on [the] east side of Arkansas Ave."
The university worked with private property owners -- Johnson said six property owners were involved -- to gain what are known as easement agreements to allow temporary construction work.
Agreements were sought for other reasons as well. Johnson said new pedestrian lighting will be placed near the sections of Senior Walk, with light poles to be placed roughly 2 or 3 feet away from the edge of the walkways.
The light fixtures "require some permanent easement from property owners that are adjacent," Johnson said, adding that the new Senior Walk sections will be wider than existing sidewalks and also be built to create a straight alignment.
The university will manage the sidewalks on both sides of the street and maintain the lighting, in addition to the street's landscaped median, said Jay Huneycutt, UA's director of campus planning and design.
"You almost have to, from a design standpoint, take care of both sides" of the street, Huneycutt said.
In March, the University of Arkansas board of trustees approved the Fayetteville campus to strike deals with property owners.
"I would say we're about 95 percent complete," Huneycutt said of the negotiations.
Many property owners agreed to the easements without being paid, but trustees approved a $10,280 deal with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for a temporary construction easement and a perpetual sidewalk easement covering 514 square feet.
Huneycutt said the church is the only property owner being paid money, with the deal not yet finalized.
Kacy Jacobs, 22, in her black graduation gown posed for photos Thursday on the green lawn in front of Old Main.
"It doesn't make any difference to me at all," Jacobs said of the new Senior Walk location, adding that she considers across the street to be part of campus. "I'm just excited that my name is going to be on there."
The university has developed a "master plan" for future Senior Walk locations.
According to the plan, a sidewalk on the west side of Arkansas Avenue will be filled with names from the class of 2017, with the class of 2018 to start either on the same side of Arkansas Avenue or on the east side of the street.
Depending on the number of graduates, the east side of Arkansas Avenue would be home to the Senior Walk sections for the 2019 and 2020 classes, according to Johnson.
The plan for after the 2020 class is to begin engraving names on sidewalks along West Maple Street, Huneycutt said. The street intersects with Arkansas Avenue.
Johnson said he's not concerned about running out of space anytime soon, even as the size of graduating classes grow larger. For academic year 2016-17, more than 6,000 undergraduate and graduate degrees were awarded, according to the university.
"We're getting farther away from the core campus," Johnson said of Senior Walk locations. But he said there are many nearby potential sites for future Senior Walk sections. Other sites under consideration are near student residence halls on the north end of campus, Johnson said.
The university's master plan identifies Senior Walk locations more than three decades into the future. The Senior Walk section for the graduating class of 2055, for example, is planned for somewhere west of South Razorback Road and north of West Center Street, according to a map dated 2016 -- and projected to be about three times as long as the 2015 section of Senior Walk, according to the master plan map.
Johnson, in an email, said such future locations should all be considered tentative.
In choosing locations for Senior Walk, Johnson said in a written statement that "the goal is to continue to preserve as much of the University's open space as possible by installing new sidewalks at existing walk locations."
Metro on 05/12/2018