Feature photo by Hannah Carley
Story by Hannah Carley
Parking Services announced major changes to Alma Mater Drive and three other lots Tuesday, affecting residents, commuters and faculty which took effect Aug. 26.
Parking Services Director Tracy Read listed the four changed lots in an email to the student body. The Alma Mater Drive, Bell, Main Street and Womack Lots adopted new parking pass color layouts at the beginning of the academic year.
Her email urged students to pay attention to new parking areas this school year and to use the school’s phone app, MT Mobile, to assure they’re in the correct lots.
“We wanted to make sure all students, especially our returning students, are aware… Please make sure to check signage as you enter every parking lot on campus and the MT Mobile app,” Read said.
Read said red decal spaces along Alma Mater Drive are in high demand, so they converted the Bell Lot from half green and half red to all red decal parking only. She said this change also compensated for a loss of red decal parking spots in front of the James Union Building. She changed the spots to white decal parking for the JUB faculty.
Student Government Association Senator Allyson McGill passed legislation last academic year, splitting the Womack Lot to accommodate half red decal and half green decal parking. Similarly to Read, McGill noticed an unused lot, saw its potential and made a change.
SGA Chief of Staff Jayla Walker supported McGill’s legislation and said getting as many green spots as possible is important.
“It was a great piece of legislation, I really think it was needed,” Walker said. “Right now I think there are more students, more commuter students, than there are parking spaces.”
Deere Hall resident Victoria Thomas said they couldn’t see viable solutions to the campus parking problem. Thomas said they don’t trust the bus system’s timeliness or the app’s reliability, and they would rather walk to their destinations.
“How long will it take to get to that stop? Is it [the app] glitching right now and showing me something that’s not there?” said Thomas. “[Walking] it’s a predictability I can rely on.”
While observing the Main Street Lot, Read noticed the spaces weren’t being used, and she changed the lot to green decal parking.
“We look at the campus and we make the decisions based on usage,” Read said. “I’m proud of the decision made for Main St. Lot.”
The Rutherford, Softball and MTSU Lots are large green decal lots further from campus buildings, but accessible through public transportation. Read said these vacant lots located toward the northeast end of campus are hard to fill. She encouraged commuters to use the bus system to save time and reduce air pollution.
“We want students and employees to park out and utilize public transportation to get to the core of campus,” Read said. “It’s better for our environment… You can go straight to a space, hop on a shuttle and be to the core of campus in no time.”
Read said Parking Services walks campus and monitors traffic and parking behaviors to make well informed decisions about parking.
“We are not over here just sitting in an office making these decisions,” Read said. “We are boots on the ground looking at the parking lots, who’s parking where.”
Hannah Carley is a reporter for MTSU Sidelines.
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