Posted on November 15, 2007
Most of the time the roads around campus are empty, but between classes cars sit in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
“It’s like the campus is breathing,” said Aaron Smith-Walter, the transportation demand manger. “When students are in class it’s breathing in, but when classes let out, it’s like a big exhale.”
As JMU anticipates a 4,000 increase in enrollment, many anticipate a boost in the economy and the university’s reputation.
Not everyone is happy about the expected growth. Due to the issue of overcrowding, which is already prevalent on campus, it is lacking parking spots for student drivers.
Unless changes are made the added amount of students could cause congestion on major roads around campus such as Port Republic Road and South Main Street. The only real solution is to create more transportation opportunities, and diversify class times, Smith-Walter said.
This has been done to a certain extent. The Warsaw Parking Deck is the newest accommodation Parking Services and has added 487 commuter parking spaces to the campus. While the university has plans to add additional residence and dining halls to the east side of campus to counter increased enrollment, no future plans have been enacted for parking.
Including the new spots, there are 2,748 spots designated for resident drivers and 3,371 for commuters, according to the Parking Services Web site. There are currently 7,706 student commuters registered with Parking Services and 880 resident drivers registered, according to Tara Armentrout, the director of Parking Services.
JMU is currently working on a six-year plan to expand enrollment with a projection of 21,500 students by the year 2013, but Armentrout says she is not aware of any plans at this time to construct new parking facilities. She also indicates that a continued increase in enrollment has the possibility of impacting student parking.
An increase in the price of parking permits for students would be required to supplement the cost of building more parking facilities, according to Armentrout.
The best solution according to the newly created Transportation Demand Management position is to create options so that fewer students will have to drive which would reduce the number of cars driving to campus daily.
“We’re currently in the data collection stage, where we’re trying to figure out rudimentary numbers,” Smith-Walker said.
Those numbers will include how many students drive onto campus every day, and whether or not those students are car pooling or driving alone.
“If you make a policy change and it turns out to be a bad one it can have drastic consequences,” Smith-Walter said. To make sure no negative changes are made, the Transportation Demand Management division is spending time collecting data to make a more informed decision. This includes sending out surveys to all students via their JMU e-mail accounts to get a better understanding of driving habits.
“People are going to have to investigate new ways to get from here to there, such as car pooling, walking and biking,” Smith-Walker said. “Also we’re going to need to diversify the way classes are scheduled.”
As an alternative to building more parking lots, Smith-Walker suggests that more students should use the bus system to get to and from campus.
“The transit system is great and is entirely geared towards students,” Smith-Walker said. “However there is always room for improvement.”
The transit system is trying to improve in many ways. Earlier this month, the Harrisonburg transit system was told to expect almost $2.3 million from the federal government specifically for transit improvements. This will include the purchase of nine replacement buses and adding more routes to the existing 25, which run seven days a week throughout the JMU campus and in the city of Harrisonburg.
About Us | Supplements | Advertising | Contact Us
Website design by Erik Pitzer ('07)
