Please Note: MSU MEMO is archived as a part of Mississippi State University's history. Articles may refer to situations which have changed or people who are no longer affiliated with the university.
 |
Mar. 21, 2005 Volume 29, Issue 28 |
Parking, traffic, decal prices to change for fall
Gated parking lots, higher parking decal prices and the largely unlamented demise of Five Points intersection are among the changes planned for campus by the start of the 2005 fall semester.
The modifications will aid central campus traffic congestion and bring parking decal fees in line with other Southern universities, according to Paul Welch, director of support services. Decals for employees and students now will cost $50, double the current price.
“We’ve looked at parking decal fees at other universities and found the average is probably $100-plus a year,” Welch said. “Currently, funds for street and parking lot maintenance and construction, as well as shuttle operations, come out of the university’s general budget. By raising our decal prices, we will be able to use those fees, along with monies generated by parking fines, for the same expenses without going to the general budget.”
He said a regional review by his staff found that annual fees at the:
—University of Alabama are $60 for both faculty/staff and student decals;
—University of Florida, $94 for students, $102 for commuters and $200-702 for employees;
—University of Georgia, vehicle owners pay $10-30 a month;
—Louisiana State University, $39 for all;
—University of Mississippi, $70 for students, $90 for employees;
—University of Southern Mississippi, $24 for employees, with a $5 late fee; and
—University of Texas: $60-650.
“We are looking at a five-year plan of gradually raising decal prices until they level out near $100 a year,” Welch said. “Last year fines and decals brought in a little over $1 million to the university; raising decal prices to $50 will bring in another $400,000.”
Welch said campus-use consultants have determined that $29 is the average annual cost required to maintain a single parking space, making MSU’s current $25 decal $4 short of the status quo. The old price also leaves no funds for new construction.
Besides maintaining campus streets and parking lots, the additional funds will be used to build more lots, including a multi-story parking garage “in the not-too-distant future.”
All the planned changes are part of the university’s long-range goal to make the central campus pedestrian friendly, Welch said.
“The plan calls for a connector road around central campus with zoned commuter parking along the perimeter,” he added, explaining that zoned parking will be put into effect as soon as some old roads are closed and new ones open.
If the plan develops as scheduled, Five Points—aka “Malfunction Junction”—will evolve by fall into a large, continuous green between Dorman Hall and Davis Wade Stadium that’s suitable for, say, pre-game picnics.
To accomplish this, Welch said:
—West Lee Boulevard will come to an end at the Leo Seal M-Club Building,
—Bully Boulevard will end at the Amphitheater, and
—Russell Street will be expanded to three-lanes and curve into Stone Boulevard.
Welch said other road changes include extending Morgan Street to Stone Boulevard—the first leg of a planned connector road. Also, the former tennis courts behind Hathorn Residence Hall and a portion of the nearby intramural fields will be converted to some 700 parking spaces for commuting students. Most gravel parking lots also will be paved.
Some parking lots may be gated and only drivers who elect to pay an additional monthly fee will be allowed to park there. Also on the agenda is the summer demolition of the Tin Gym and accompanying relocation of Creelman Street nearer to the front of Dorman Hall.
“Of course, all of this is contingent on funding from the Legislature to the College Board on down,” Welch cautioned.
In addition to roadways, shuttle routes will change by the fall semester. The Green Route will end, replaced by a new express route from Humphrey Coliseum to Colvard Union. The Maroon and Gray routes will continue as they are.
Welch said the recent purchase of an additional bus has enabled the addition of the Wise Center/College of Veterinary Medicine to the shuttle route.
“We hope that these changes will make university traffic move more smoothly and parking more accessible for our employees and our students,” Welch said.