Exactly. Some people were stuck in their cars for 2 hours trying to get off campus. Sitting ducks. Then again, if you've ever tried to leave campus after a football game, you're well aware that LSU has no idea how to manage large migrations of people. None. I practically had to go halfway across BTR Saturday night just so I could turn around and go the other frickin' way.
Walked where? Campus was evacuated for 12 hours, the rest of the day. Everybody had to go home. That means to their cars, for the most part. We got no subways, darlin'. It was a major gridlock, but people got home. One thing I noticed was that it produced a large stream of pedestrians quickly out of central campus to the commuter lots, which are all now on the campus periphery. So despite the subsequent traffic nightmare, the students mostly hoofed it off campus rapidly and the parking-pass faculty just had to poke along in traffic to get out. But there is almost certainly going to be a new campus evacuation plan considered. It's going to get worse when the five big parking garages called for in the LSU master plan get built. I suspect before they do this again, they will get help from the city and get police out to the intersections with barricades and direct traffic like post-game. Every lot will be evacuated in one direction and individuals can't just cross traffic and try to go where they want to.
Have they released any information regarding the other threats last week? Do they typically find out who is behind them? When I was in high school in the mid 90s, we had about 5 bomb threats during my Fr-Jr years but then about 15 alone in my Sr. year. That was back in the (stand alone) pay phone era and I recall friends saying how easy it would be to get away with.
What's enrollment like these days? I want to say it was right around 30,000 when I lived on campus in '99-'01.
And all it would take to create a s***-storm of epic proportions is for just one of these threats to pan out and cause death or serious injury to dozens or hundreds of people. Imagine what would happen if it were revealed that LSU knew about the threat and didn't act on it. It's a no-win situation where you have to err on the side of caution.
So on a typical day like today, is traffic worse than it was 10 years ago? It sounds like there's about the same number of people.
Far worse. More students drive cars, even students who live in the dorms. More cars are registered than ever. Central campus is now gated and is permit-only during the school day and so is a bit more pedestrian friendly. But the commuter lots and the roads that lead to them are badly congested all day long.
Ah, ok, that makes sense. Thanks. I lived in West Laville and usually just left my car parked in the little parking lot behind it, walking everywhere.
I didn't own a car then I lived in the dorms (East Laville, btw), but everyone that lived in dorms walked everywhere. I'm sure that's still the case? And, Red, I realize that there aren't subways, etc. in Baton Rouge, but if they needed everyone away from campus, getting in cars at the same time to leave wasn't very effective. If there had been an explosion, how many people would've been stuck in a car?
