I was on campus today, heads up on a road closure........

[Liverpooldawg]

Hardy Road is closed from Bowen Hall to just past the Health Center. It's going to be closed all of this year and most of next for the library addition. That's going to be a nightmare on game day. I bet it won't be great on a normal day either.

[DawgHouseUnited]

Think I saw something about that on the Mitchell library instagram/twitter feed or something. Looking like I'll be down there a good bit this fall, guess I'll learn ways to avoid it.

[mstatefan91]

Traffic on campus this year is going to be a nightmare. The first week of classes is going to be absolutely dreadful. GameDay traffic will also be bad for the first couple of home games until people figure out the changes

[starkvegasdawg]

The fall semester of my freshman year in 92 there was no construction on campus. It was glorious. Sadly now, I get lost when I drive on campus. I don't recognize it anymore and all those 17ing gates blocking roads off don't do my blood pressure any favors either.

[maroon59]

Hardy Road is closed from Bowen Hall to just past the Health Center. It's going to be closed all of this year and most of next for the library addition. That's going to be a nightmare on game day. I bet it won't be great on a normal day either.

Add to that, they are installing card operated gates on Creelman near Montgomery Hall and on President's Circle adjacent to Allen that will be closed during class hours. That cuts off another cross campus route.

the plan seems to be to create an in and out road situation from all sides of campus and little or no cross campus.

[starkvegasdawg]

the plan seems to be to create an in and out road situation from all sides of campus and little or no cross campus.

Not sure how true this is but I have heard from people that work on campus that their ultimate goal is one way on and off campus. If that is true I don't even want to think of what a nightmare that would be for those in class there and gamedays. I'm not sure if they are wanting to force everybody to use the shuttle system or not.

[SheltonChoked]

If I recall correctly, the plan for a long time has been to close off the center of campus to all traffic and only have a ring road with parking. All the roads through campus will be converted to sidewalks, bikeways, buildings or green space. I have not been back on a non game weekend for a while now, but that's what I remember.

[Liverpooldawg]

That is the plan I think. It's getting pretty close to reality for the central core of the campus.

[Tbonewannabe]

It seems like most big colleges don't have traffic in the middle of campus and have good shuttle systems. More people in the same space, something has to be done. It is the payment for growth. State is now as big as Bama was when I went to school and keeps getting bigger.

[Dawg Corps]

Traffic on Hardy Road has been insane during the semester on a daily basis for several years. The parking on that whole east side of campus is inadequate. I can remember students driving laps around the parking lots and having to wait a significant amount of time for a spot. If you didn't get to the parking lots to search for a spot at least 30 minutes before the class started, you may as well just go back home.

[starkvegasdawg]

Traffic on Hardy Road has been insane during the semester on a daily basis for several years. The parking on that whole east side of campus is inadequate. I can remember students driving laps around the parking lots and having to wait a significant amount of time for a spot. If you didn't get to the parking lots to search for a spot at least 30 minutes before the class started, you may as well just go back home.

I remember what we would do is just pick a row and camp out and when someone went to get in there car we'd ease up behind them and park there as soon as they left. Often times there would be one person at the end of the row and one in the middle.

[RocketCityDawg]

The fall semester of my freshman year in 92 there was no construction on campus. It was glorious. Sadly now, I get lost when I drive on campus. I don't recognize it anymore and all those 17ing gates blocking roads off don't do my blood pressure any favors either.

The 17ing gates piss me off too. What is their purpose?

[starkvegasdawg]

The 17ing gates piss me off too. What is their purpose?

$$$ pure and simple. They blocked off those areas and charge out the ass to be able to gain access to those areas.

[Dawg Corps]

I may not have as seasoned of a perspective as some others, but the gates do a lot of good to cut down on congestion in the central parts of campus...especially during class change time when the semester is in full swing. There are thousands of students trying to get from one building to another that are constantly crossing those interior roads. With the gates in place, there isn't really a need to channelize the students/pedestrians into cross walks; they can just cross freely in these areas.

[Rayburn8]

They are trying to make it a "walking Campus". They want students to do more walking.

[DudyDawg]

They are trying to make it a "walking Campus". They want students to do more walking.

Good plan, it's only 95 degrees for the first and last two months of every school year. Let's all walk more

[Bama_Dawg]

They are trying to make it a "walking Campus". They want students to do more walking.

Well then they also need to relocate some areas of study. For instance (real world example), if you have a class in Simrall for EE or CE (Computer Engineering) and immediately after have a class in Butler Hall for CS/CE, then you are screwed unless you have a bike.

To get to a true walking campus they'll have to better locate colleges that have crossover ties.

[starkvegasdawg]

Well then they also need to relocate some areas of study. For instance (real world example), if you have a class in Simrall for EE or CE (Computer Engineering) and immediately after have a class in Butler Hall for CS/CE, then you are screwed unless you have a bike.

To get to a true walking campus they'll have to better locate colleges that have crossover ties.

Amen. Back when I was there I had a semester where I had one class in Harned Biology and the next was Allen Hall. That was a nice power walk three times a week.

[SheltonChoked]

I don't know why you'd think driving would be better.

I think you would like a shuttle to ride in.


Or someone to help you with your schedule...

[starkvegasdawg]

Not always possible to schedule classes close together. Especially when you're a senior and you only have certain classes left with limited scheduling. And yes, I think I could go to my car and drive to my next class if it was across campus faster than I could go to a shuttle stop, wait for the next one, hope the line is not so large that I can get on and not have to wait for the next one, and then be driven to the shuttle stop I need to get off at. I also think driving would be better because I did it when I was at school there. When the core of all your classes are on a building on the edge of campus like Thompson Hall, then it is almost guaranteed that your next class will be in another zip code.

[Tbonewannabe]

Well then they also need to relocate some areas of study. For instance (real world example), if you have a class in Simrall for EE or CE (Computer Engineering) and immediately after have a class in Butler Hall for CS/CE, then you are screwed unless you have a bike.

To get to a true walking campus they'll have to better locate colleges that have crossover ties.

That sucks but it is completely doable unless your class goes long. I did it MWF for a semester. Although it might be why I finished in McCool, lol.

[Tbonewannabe]

Not always possible to schedule classes close together. Especially when you're a senior and you only have certain classes left with limited scheduling. And yes, I think I could go to my car and drive to my next class if it was across campus faster than I could go to a shuttle stop, wait for the next one, hope the line is not so large that I can get on and not have to wait for the next one, and then be driven to the shuttle stop I need to get off at. I also think driving would be better because I did it when I was at school there. When the core of all your classes are on a building on the edge of campus like Thompson Hall, then it is almost guaranteed that your next class will be in another zip code.

I don't think it would be faster to go to your car and drive over to Butler and actually find a parking spot. With around 20,000 people on campus, there just isn't enough parking to make this feasible.

[TheRef]

I don't think it would be faster to go to your car and drive over to Butler and actually find a parking spot. With around 20,000 people on campus, there just isn't enough parking to make this feasible.

For what it's worth, I could always find a parking spot behind BK within the first 3 rows. And East is the most populated commuter zone, if I remember correctly.

[starkvegasdawg]

I don't think it would be faster to go to your car and drive over to Butler and actually find a parking spot. With around 20,000 people on campus, there just isn't enough parking to make this feasible.

It wasn't fun but I did it for 4 years. Maybe I just had the luck of needing to use parking lots that weren't as popular as a lot of other people. I don't know. But I know if I had to go back to school today I would rather have my own car on campus and take my chances over waiting on a shuttle.

[mstatefan91]

It wasn't fun but I did it for 4 years. Maybe I just had the luck of needing to use parking lots that weren't as popular as a lot of other people. I don't know. But I know if I had to go back to school today I would rather have my own car on campus and take my chances over waiting on a shuttle.

When were you in school? A lot has changed with parking zones, amount of parking, and amount of students.

[Dawg Corps]

For the past few years Parking Services has kind of taken the same stance to selling parking decals that airlines take in selling tickets. (i.e., they sell more decals than there are actual parking spaces going on the assumption that on any given day not all people with decals will park.) This assumption is fine for 90% of the semester. Where is falls through is the very beginning of the semester before everyone starts cutting class/dropping out and the end of the semester where everyone has to show up at the same time to take exams.

[Liverpooldawg]

Amen. Back when I was there I had a semester where I had one class in Harned Biology and the next was Allen Hall. That was a nice power walk three times a week.

Try the Hand Lab to the Poultry Science Building with Chicken Thomas waiting on you!

[starkvegasdawg]

When were you in school? A lot has changed with parking zones, amount of parking, and amount of students.

I started in fall 92 and graduated in December of 98 after a year stint in JC and a couple major changes.

[Tbonewannabe]

I started in fall 92 and graduated in December of 98 after a year stint in JC and a couple major changes.

The biggest problem is there isn't really any more parking from when you finished but almost double the amount of students.

[SheltonChoked]

I may be wrong, but those are 2 separate parking zones now. And enrollment has gone up almost 50% since then too.

Of course, all my classes were in Ethridge or nearby. So I never had a problem with parking.

[Bama_Dawg]

That sucks but it is completely doable unless your class goes long. I did it MWF for a semester. Although it might be why I finished in McCool, lol.

Yep, I made the walk across the drill field myself in the end. Worked out tho...

[hailmari]

I said screw it my last semester and just parked behind campus bookmark. Ended up taking almost as long to walk to Harned from there as commuter west.

[mstatefan91]

I started in fall 92 and graduated in December of 98 after a year stint in JC and a couple major changes.

A lot has changed. More students, probably less commuter parking than was available to you. Different parking zones that dictate where you actually park. You can't just up and drive across campus and park in a different zone. Also, I would be very surprised if you found a parking spot in the 10 minutes between classes and still had time to make it to said class.

[Joe Schmedlap]

Try the Hand Lab to the Poultry Science Building with Chicken Thomas waiting on you!


Been there, done that, got the T-shirt in the late 80's.

[TimberBeast]

That sucks but it is completely doable unless your class goes long. I did it MWF for a semester. Although it might be why I finished in McCool, lol.

I remember the long walk from Simrall to Butler, it sucked but I did it plenty. I laughed about ending up in the country club, I ended up there too.