The recently published campus master plan draft outlines future developments for Mississippi State University’s campus in several areas. One noticeable and immediate change will be the adjustments made to traffic flow and parking on campus, as well as an expansion in the mass transit service available to students.
The changes suggested in the master plan draft will continue to improve the parking and traffic situation, which was somewhat remedied by a rezoning and expansion of parking lots over the summer.
Mike Harris, director of Parking Services, said a parking garage that will be built behind the post office building will be the first major addition in this category.
“We are moving rapidly with that now,” Harris said.
The design will be finalized soon, and the groundbreaking will take place over the summer. The garage will tentatively be open by August, he said.
The garage will provide about 850 new spaces in the north zone of campus for students and employees. Parking Services will sell annual and semester permits for the garage and also offer visitor parking at an hourly rate. The garage will be a shuttle bus hub, so at least several buses will make stops at the garage to pick up students who park there.
The master plan draft also calls for a second garage to be built in the next few years. The likely location will be near the new agriculture and biology building in the south zone of campus.
“That would give us two relatively large parking areas which would help with traffic flow in and out of campus,” Harris said.
Adrianna Mize, freshman English education major, said she is in favor of more parking.
“I like the idea of the parking garages because the current parking lots are crowded and away from everything else,” she said.
Another traffic change will be the replacement of the on-street parking on Barr Avenue with bike lanes. Harris said bike lanes will make sidewalks safer for pedestrians and will improve sustainability efforts. To further encourage bike use, plans are already in the works for more bike racks to be installed throughout campus.
Ashley Thomas, freshman pre-pharmacy major, said the campus definitely needs more bike racks.
“My roommate got a ticket for setting her bike against a building because there was no room on the bike rack at all,” she said.
Harris said the intersection of George Perry Boulevard and Barr Avenue will be restructured with the advice of traffic consultants, possibly with the installation of walking signals or even a traffic light.
He also said over the summer, three more shuttle buses will be added to the fleet for a total of 20 buses.
The current shuttle buses also recently received some technology upgrades. Because of automatic counters, drivers no longer have to manually count the number of passengers who get on and off at each stop. Also, a GPS monitor in each bus means drivers are able to see the locations of other buses and to stagger their driving accordingly. Harris said in addition to being more efficient, these changes make the bus system safer because drivers are now able to focus more on their driving and on the pedestrians around them.
Harris said Parking Services hopes for opportunities to expand the current bus routes and even to explore grants that would help grow this service. Another potential idea is linking bus routes to the city of Starkville to bring students onto campus and eliminate the need for those students to drive.
“We are at that 20,000-student tipping point,” Harris said.
He said a decision has to be made between either continually adding more parking or expanding the shuttle routes.