In September of 2014, I wrote One Way to Deal With a Desire Line, describing the University of Minnesota’s attempt to deal with a desire line by planting a tree in the middle and placing concrete curbs to reroute traffic, costing pedestrians several seconds a day each. That tree died, as documented in A Tree Dies in Minneapolis, or ‘One Way to Deal with a Desire Line’ Revisited.
McNamara Tree with rope barrier
Like the King of Swamp Castle in Monty Python and the Holy Grail whose castle sank into the swamp, the University has planted another tree. But this time, it is reinforced, with an almost invisible rope line.
That will teach pesky pedestrians trying to get an education and reach classes on-time to take the straight line path that used to be there but was changed because someone once saw a bicycle on the Scholars Walk.
[I know “Empire” was the 2nd movie in the original trilogy, and this is the third post in a series. But unless I want to make the University the hero in this saga, I can’t make an Episode VI reference yet.]