Posted on April 7, 2008
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.
