Contact: Maridith Geuder
Pete Melby's landscape architecture majors are designing a future for Starkville that's environmentally friendly.
The Mississippi State professor asked members of his senior design class to take an in-depth look at their adopted city of residence. Their task: propose solutions for future traffic and wastewater needs.
Melby, also co-director of the university's Center for Sustainable Design, charged the two dozen or so future professionals with developing alternative ways to move people through the East Mississippi municipality of more than 22,000. He also asked them to develop solutions for treating municipal storm water runoff and sewage.
While strictly academic, the project "is based on well-researched realities," Melby said.
"We analyzed real-world, long-term issues," he added. "Students chose a particular subject area to research and proposed responses for the future needs of our city. They developed very innovative methodologies for complex problems."
Based on their research, students projected that by 2015 the current city population would expand to more than 28,000. County population is expected to reach 48,000 from a current 42,000. Those numbers, in addition to MSU student populations of 16,000 or more, would place significantly increased stress on roadways and such city services as sewage and storm drainage.
"With the expected depletion of fossil fuels in the future, it also becomes imperative to find different methods of transportation," said team member Ted A. Roland Jr. of Starkville.
Six teams concentrated on individual areas that, taken together, form a complex infrastructure. The completed research reports and proposals recently were presented to city and university leaders.
Among student proposals for traffic: a vintage trolley system as an alternative to cars, more pedestrian and bike paths that provide city-university linkages, and traffic calming measures such as road closures and one-way street designations to enhance historic neighborhoods. In addition to environmental benefits, transportation alternatives would have the economic benefit of reducing the need for costly road construction and maintenance.
Students also proposed developing natural wetlands as an alternative to the city's present water treatment system.
"Using wetlands in each of the city's four watershed areas would provide living filters to clean water before it is released into area streams and would reduce energy costs of the current pumping system," said Terry R. Merchant of Kosciusko.
The students said wetlands also could be developed as wildlife refuges and parks, thus providing additional recreational and outdoor attractions for the area.
Melby said the proposals are "a starting point for envisioning future possibilities" and "are consistent with national trends." As an example, he cited a recent study completed for the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Mortgage Bankers Association.
"As reported in USA Today, the study showed that nearly 70 percent of city residents support public transit improvements over new road construction," he said. "These student proposals give us a lot to think about."
Other student team members include (by hometown):
BATTLEBORO, N.C.--Brian Hendrix.
BRANDON--Josh Bethea.
CLEVELAND--Wes Shive.
COLUMBUS--Brian Moore.
CORINTH--Mary Johns McLemore.
CUBA, Ala.--Elliott Harwell.
GREENWOOD--Robbie Mattox.
GREENVILLE--Mark Rich.
GRENADA--Jared Acy and Daniel Ashworth.
JACKSON--Chad Segrest and Amy Starling.
NORTHPORT, Ala.--Chad Watkins.
OCEAN SPRINGS--Daniel Havelin and Jake Travis.
ROCHESTER, Minn.--Keven Winkelmann.
STARKVILLE--Michael Gentry, Lee Jones, Drew Rhoades, Troy Strunk, and Meri Starks.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.--Matt Jollit and Davis Mutert.
WIGGINS--Gus Auter.