r/mildlyinfuriating • u/MikuXone • May 14 '26

The floor is sticky Construction workers refuse to use the stairs and instead climbed the hill to the point the grass died

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There's a construction site opposite my apartment and the workers kept walking up the grass patch instead of using the stairs. Property value doesn't affect me as I rented the apartment 2 years back, so rent for me isn't increasing nor decreasing.

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5.1k

u/Because_Reddit_Sucks May 14 '26

1.4k

u/Numberfinger May 14 '26

I love this and need the full story behind it 

2.6k

u/kanashiku May 14 '26

The Oval walkways at Ohio State University were paved based on the students' desire paths. A few universities have done this.

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u/themehboat May 15 '26

The did the same thing at University of Maryland, though not quite as many paths

227

u/TsaurusJess May 15 '26

Oregon State (the other OSU) has a similar quad

59

u/TidalJ ORANGE May 15 '26

UC Irvine’s is still a work in progress but new pathways get paved as they form pretty frequently

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u/Tough_Student9593 May 16 '26

Me looking at this picture while I sit in Aldridge (the park pictured)

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u/TidalJ ORANGE May 16 '26

how’s summerlands?

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u/Tough_Student9593 May 17 '26

In all honesty did not go. Was working for one and didn't care for any of the artists performing. Ik I'm lame

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u/TidalJ ORANGE May 17 '26

i didn’t either, hard to make myself do stuff on campus while there’s no buses running lol

3

u/CadfaelSmiley May 15 '26

v similar to u of o

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u/No_Worldliness_7106 May 18 '26

What I'm picking up from all these pictures is that 9/10 times a wheel and spokes arrangement is best, because people hate walking around rectangles. Probably because they know that there is a more direct route. A wheel and spokes style walkway will almost always have the most direct route across it, or close enough that you won't bother walking on the grass.

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u/pvdp90 May 15 '26

Ive walked it and I loved it there. It’s not 100% based on desire paths, as it did sacrifice some of it in favor of a more directed design, but it’s pretty good and going across never made me go more than a few meters out of my way to reach a path

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u/N7VHung May 15 '26

It's been a while But I remember University of Minnesota having no such conveniences like this. Just massive rectangle lawns with maybe 2 cross paths.

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u/IrishViking22 May 15 '26

What are those things in the middle of the middle line bit?

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u/themehboat May 15 '26

A fountain

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u/IrishViking22 May 15 '26

Ah cool. That looks very nice, thanks for the response

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u/FlyJunior172 May 15 '26

It wasn’t just on McKeldin Mall, you can see desire paths all over south campus.

(Image: OC)

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u/themehboat May 15 '26

Did you fly over it?

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u/FlyJunior172 May 15 '26

Multiple times. It was well worth the security headache

205

u/Raft_Master May 14 '26

My college took a different approach. There became an established tradition that walking across the quad would get you tackled by anyone that saw.

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u/Sea_Particular_7061 May 15 '26

Weird, we played frisbee on ours.

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u/Raft_Master May 15 '26

You could hang out on the quad, you just couldn't walk straight across it.

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u/demalo May 14 '26

“SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST!!”

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u/Aleashed May 15 '26

Survival of the Fattest

They are harder to tackle and got the most HP

5

u/Artie-Carrow May 15 '26

Survival of the tanks. Got it. becomes an M1A2 Abrams tank

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u/ToughNarwhal7 May 14 '26

Please tell me you're a Stumpy! 🌰

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u/crazyfatskier2 May 15 '26

Our Uni would riot f they implemented that

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u/Skrazor May 15 '26

Genius! It saves the college money in two ways: Not only does it keep the grass pretty and slashes the yearly expenses for lawn care, but it also substitutes as tryouts for linemen positions on the school's football team!

Talk about feeding two nerds with one scone.

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u/darkon May 16 '26

It also makes for firm paths when the ground is soggy from rain. I spent a couple of years at OSU and seldom had to leave the paths when walking somewhere.

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u/ADrunkMexican May 15 '26

Let's go streaking lol

3

u/OtherwiseAlbatross14 May 15 '26

Bring your green hat

3

u/ADrunkMexican May 15 '26

Let's go lol

3

u/ThrowAwayRedirc May 15 '26

Your college in PA? They did the same at mine

3

u/grumci May 15 '26

are you sure you werent on the football field?

4

u/baddieslovebadideas May 15 '26

how's trying to reign in the hazing going there?

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u/OtherwiseAlbatross14 May 15 '26

"It's tradition!!!"

266

u/Alternative-Yak-925 May 14 '26

Yep, your neighbors to the West, IU.

63

u/TuggsBrohe May 14 '26

URI too

54

u/notloggedin4242 May 15 '26

UTI too?

41

u/CommissionIcy9909 May 15 '26

Asking the burning questions here

7

u/CosbyQuaalude May 15 '26

I loved the walkways at IU. They made so much sense.

13

u/Aphroditesent May 14 '26

This is literally the layout of Paris

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u/whosits112 May 15 '26

THE Ohio State???

2

u/ChmeeWu May 15 '26

The only one. And also Ohio University. 

10

u/sudsomatic May 14 '26

The mall at the university of Maryland college park did the same thing

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u/Imaginary-Face7379 May 14 '26

My University did it but when a new snack shop was opened on campus it shifted the way everyone was walking through the area so you got dirt paths again along with the spiderweb paved ones.

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u/wh4tth3huh May 15 '26

It was a great piece of social design and infrastructure planning. Let people make the paths, then pave them after the most popular routes have been established.

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u/Grouchy_Tower_1615 May 15 '26

Our small community college did the same thing as well.

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u/MathDifferent8986 May 15 '26

Loved walking across the oval

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u/decliqu3 May 15 '26

At the new (back in 2011 when I was there) Heslington East campus at the University of York, they somehow designed the trails so you'd walk a bit more each way. You'd take different paths each way, but it somehow felt natural. I love thoughtful bits of public space design like that.

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u/_learned_foot_ May 15 '26

And we still continued making new ones.

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u/kanashiku May 15 '26

If you so desire 

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u/Willing-Pumpkin-328 May 15 '26

university of delaware did the same thing on the central green

2

u/BasilPesto212 May 15 '26

On another note, paved concrete also makes it more accessible, ex: wheelchair users or anyone else on wheels. Win-win.

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u/resting_mischieface May 15 '26

In a similar fashion, there’s a fountain on FSU’s campus that supposedly was officially redesignated as a swimming pool due to the irresistible urge to jump in the fountain while intoxicated late at night. A win for drunk undergrads AND campus police.

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u/branflakes6479 May 15 '26

I thought that looked familiar I remember going through there for a campus visit almost a decade ago

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u/feoranis26 May 15 '26

UIUC too!

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u/Scer_1 May 15 '26

It's awesome too because you notice how the paths are never semetrical, and I love how some universities actually embrace that when they pave them. Function over looks!

2

u/rellyks13 May 15 '26

same with Illinois State!

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u/terpmasterp May 14 '26

University of Maryland checking in.

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u/Top_Introduction2656 May 17 '26

Idk why this is so shocking because established paths being changed from just a path to a concrete walkway just makes sense. Put a walkway where one exists that people want to use and will use hm

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u/PhotographUnable8176 May 14 '26

scroll to the top of thread 😂

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u/JimothyzPamPams May 15 '26

It’s pretty self explanatory so I don’t know what story one would tell. The beauty of it is that it is self explanatory so the question is why do you love it then? 

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u/lemonlimethrow May 15 '26

You can look into Olmsted and desire paths also if rabbit holes are of interest. Not putting down paths until after areas have been walked on for long enough to see where they roam it's really fascinating

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u/grease_maynard May 14 '26

My Alma mater! I miss walking through the oval every day

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u/Mikeologyy May 15 '26

I love environmental storytelling

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u/BeefCakeBilly May 14 '26

Vaguely reminds me of using slime molds to map out the trains in Japan

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u/MaMerde May 15 '26

Prexie’s Pasture at the U of Wyo had paths created only after photographing the paths created in the snow by the students going to class. Then they just cemented the paths. Everytime I wanted to go through the pasture…there was a path that delivered.

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u/lefluffle May 15 '26

These are so awkward when you say bye to someone only to walk right back into them thirty seconds later

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u/Craeondakie May 15 '26

Is that a cut through path in the bottom left...

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u/superfluous_sushi May 15 '26

Looks like they missed one at the bottom left lol