Sorry, I just don't see it. I've explained this many times but I don't mind doing it again. The problem at Liberty is not a lack of parking spaces. The problem is too many students, faculty and staff want to park near DeMoss AND the number of parking spaces on the main campus actually exceeds the maximum number of spaces that campus roads will adequately serve.
If we built a large parking garage on the main campus, the traffic at peak times would be gridlock -- much worse than five years ago before GLTC bus service was established. I remember it taking at least 20 minutes to drive from Vines to Green Hall when classes were changing back then because many dorm students were driving to class. Now, they ride the bus and traffic is manageable. A parking garage on main campus with all the new traffic it would bring would make it impossible to provide that critical bus service like we do now.
The reason traffic is manageable now on main campus is because many of the spaces are assigned to dorm students, many of whom do not move their cars around much during peak traffic times Monday through Friday. Richard Martin explained to me recently that the reason we don't require dorm students on main campus to park in a satellite lot is because, if their spaces on main campus were assigned to commuters or faculty/staff who come and go once or twice a day, traffic would again be out of control. The free flow of busses in and out of main campus is critical to the operation of the university with all the growth we have experienced.
Richard also sees it as a positive to have more of a mix of commuters and faculty/staff parking near DeMoss. Last year, when faculty/staff only paid $50 and commuters paid much more, almost all faculty/staff chose to park near DeMoss. The problem there is faculty/staff are much more likely to drive in and out during peak traffic hours in the morning, at lunch and at the end of the day while commuters are more likely to come and go during off peak hours when their classes start and end. We still reserved enough premium spaces this year for all faculty and staff to park near DeMoss but it does help the traffic during peak hours if some of them choose to park in a less expensive lot and ride the bus in.
So, that means any new parking garage would have to be built across the highway in Campbell County where the new 1480 space lot was just built. This location has the best access to the bypass and to Wards Road via the new five-lane bridge that Liberty built over the railroad across from the airport recently. Traffic entering and exiting this site would not impact traffic on campus roads as badly as many other sites. But, at the end of the day, parking would be no closer to DeMoss than it is now. We would still have to run busses every few minutes to the new garage. What would be the benefit? And that is not a rhetorical question. There may actually be some benefit that we haven't realized.
Liberty is unique in that it is not surrounded by off campus housing options like most colleges are. We are surrounded by retail stores, the airport, an industrial park and a mountain. One large housing project is in the planning stages on the mountain. We need to make sure more off campus housing is built close enough to the university that frequent bus service is feasible and close enough that many will choose to ride their bikes or walk to and from school.
This Fall we saw some students trying to park at local businesses and walking to class. The property owners had to tow many of them. This is because the majority of the off campus housing is several miles away. They can't walk and bus service is not as frequent as it would be if the housing was close by.
The road system surrounding campus is not likely to change much in the future. It can only handle so much traffic and it is near capacity now. We are open to input and suggestions. When I met with the faculty on August 10, one nursing faculty member suggested a payment plan for faculty and staff to pay their parking fees. I implemented the installment plan on the spot. We need constructive criticism from faculty and staff. We only request that those with only negative things to say at least heed the admonition of Matthew 18 to first voice their grievances privately and in person to the administration before attempting to sew discord on a public message board. We would greatly appreciate that consideration! Thank you.
- By aredd33
- By JK37