New parking spots are a 'Back-in blunder'
As Central Michigan University expands its campus and strides to be more interactive for students, redesign is inevitable.
One of the most notable reworkings on campus is the new one-way roads on Ottawa, Calumet and Ojibway courts. From the new EHS building to the proposed medical school, CMU is constantly changing.
One of the most notable reworkings on campus is the new one-way roads on Ottawa, Calumet and Ojibway courts.
The roads, featuring bike paths, aim to be pedestrian friendly, which might make some students feel more at home. Changing the road to one way keeps the traffic flowing and easy to manage.
But the redesign is not flawless. Students are now required to back in if they want to park on this road. What’s worse is the parking spots are slanted, forcing people to park in a typically unfamiliar way.
Backing into a parking spot has its advantages, particularly when students are leaving the parking lot. Students can spot oncoming traffic and cyclists easier, which could reduce accidents.
But when it comes to the actual act of parking, students have to be conscious of how close someone is following them. The parking spots are at an angle that requires a significant amount of space between cars. Without enough space, traffic can easily be disrupted and students may end up missing out on a parking spot.
What if you are using this road and you are behind someone trying to park in an unfamiliar manner? At best, traffic is held up. At worst, cars are damaged from accidental bumps.
From observing Ottawa Court, several attempts at parking on this road have been awful. While many cars were within their parking spaces, several were not, which makes parking around those cars even more of a challenge.
The Ottawa/Ojibway may be flawed, it would not take much to remedy the situation. The parking spots could be straightened out, giving students an easier time parking. Or, if the one-way traffic was redirected so cars entered at Ojibway and exited through Ottawa, the parking spots would be angled towards drivers, thus making it easier to park.
Students also should be able to simply pull into a parking spot instead of being forced to back into a spot. Any of these solutions would keep the pedestrian-friendly design while making parking easier.
Redesigning the campus is encouraging, especially as Central grows and changes with each year. The effort to make the campus more pedestrian friendly shows the university is thinking of how students are navigating around the school.
But designs that need improving should be done so as quickly as possible before people are too comfortable with the change and a new project is started.
Hopefully, CMU will continue to incorporate pedestrians and cyclists in their plans as they redesign the campus.
