Students had the chance to voice concerns about the Easy Streets campaign Tuesday in Free Speech Alley.
The Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation and Student Government teamed up to provide the open forum and get student input.
Corey Weber, SG director of transportation, said panels held this past spring addressed complaints and suggestions on how to change the system because students were confused about how it would work. But Weber said he has received more positive feedback from students than he did last semester.
Though Lauren Hinton, kinesiology freshman, thinks Easy Streets is a great idea, she said it still is not perfect.
“I know a lot of people I have talked to carpool during rainy days to get dropped off in front of their classes,” she said. “They won’t be able to do that anymore.”
Members of the Environmental Conservation Organization showed support for Easy Streets by sharing the environmental benefits. ECO adopted Easy Streets to their core agenda in 2007. It is also part of the University’s Master Plan.
ECO Co-president Rachel Guillory said her group saw this as a fantastic initiative to help Easy Streets get off the ground.
Guillory said ECO began supporting Easy Streets a few months after its establishment immediately following Hurricane Katrina. ECO decided to tackle its goal of reducing air pollution through transportation.
Bus transportation is encouraged to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the environment, Guillory said. Eliminating bus stops due to traffic is important to keep buses flowing, she said.
“You can tell just this week how much better traffic flows,” she said. “Other roads are clogged right now, but unfortunately that’s just a fact of life.”
Graham Kennedy, construction management senior, agreed the bus system is important but thinks it should be expanded.
“Using bus transportation will help the environment in terms of air quality, maybe not global warming though,” he said.
Gary Graham, Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation director, said Easy Streets will soon be second nature to everyone and streets will not be congested.
“The first few weeks of school are always heavy traffic,” he said. “But traffic should drop off as it always has.”
The University is one of the few in the nation without a parking garage. Graham revealed the preliminary design plans for a garage to replace Highland Cafeteria late next year.
—Contact Natalie Messina at [email protected]