The much-anticipated bike and pedestrian underpass at Goshen College has finally become a reality.

Although actual construction work began in April, the city of Goshen and Goshen College have been preparing for this day for more than five years since the project was approved.

City and school officials celebrated the project’s completion this afternoon with a ribbon cutting ceremony and tours of the “Winona Trail” underpass.

The underpass will allow bikers and pedestrians to cross campus even when a train is passing through, which according to officials can happen as many as 20 times a day. According to the project coordinator, Glenn Gilbert, the railroad tracks have proven not only to be an inconvenience to the students, but also as a threat to their safety.

“The biggest disruption is if they choose to stop and literally divide our campus in half, which, when it happens, becomes a dangerous situation. People are tempted to climb through or they get impatient. We're just excited to think that we've eliminated that kind of potential catastrophe on our campus,” says Gilbert.

The new underpass will allow students to get to class quickly and safely, which means the trains can no longer serve as excuses for being late to class.