Limited campus parking creates ticket hot spots

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Tweet Parking on campus can be a horror, especially for students who prefer commuting from dorms and apartments.

Take the Shaw Ramp, located behind the Capitol Area Transportation Authority transit center between North and South Shaw lanes - in 2006, MSU parking enforcement issued 25,232 citations there.

"Logically, the areas that have the heaviest enforcement don't have gates, and the second thing is they are the areas with the most spaces," MSU police Deputy Chief Mike Rice said. "The Shaw Ramp is ungated for a number of reasons - it's centrally located and large - so it's subject to abuse."

Another high-profile area for parking violations is the Administration Building parking loop. In 2006, people in the area received 4,481 citations, despite being smaller than other lot on campus.

"Those are short-term meters in administration and designed for people who have business in the Administration Building," Rice said. "We try to enforce those so more people have the opportunity to use those spaces. Some people park there to go to class. Admissions and financial aid also are there, so it's a high demand for those parking spaces."

The number of student drivers has increased during the past 10-12 years, according to MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon's 2020 Vision plan, which outlines the changes that will occur on MSU's campus and will be completed by 2020.

As an MSU student in the 1960s, Rice worked as a resident mentor in Shaw Hall, where three out of 53 men on his hall floor had cars.

"The lifestyle of our students is very mobile," Rice said. "A lot of our kids integrate classes with social life, internships, jobs and responsibilities back home - and they need transportation to do that."

MSU never was designed to sustain the amount of transportation or parking spaces that are in demand by students and faculty, Rice said.

Earth science senior Ashley Branoff said she would like to see MSU have student lots on central campus where students could easily pay for parking, especially since Commuter Lot 89 is too far away.

"Parking on campus is terrible," she said. "I've gotten too many parking tickets to count. I've probably given MSU $400 or $500."

It's unlikely more parking spaces will be built in the middle of campus. MSU plans to eliminate many of the parking lots on campus and is pushing for more parking ramps in outlying areas.

"There is more central parking for students than there has ever been," Rice said.

"The problem is we have 40,000 students and 10,000 faculty. The goal is to go to perimeter parking but efficient perimeter parking."

Another idea that has been discussed by some officials is building an underground parking garage, similar to the Ford Underground Garage in downtown Detroit.

"We have talked about it a lot, but groundwater in this area is about 13 feet," Rice said. "It causes all types of issues. It's attractive, but extremely expensive."

The university will begin construction of an overpass in spring 2008 at the railroad tracks on Farm Lane in order to keep traffic flowing to and from the Commuter Lot 89.

Traffic enforcement also is one of the issues driving the restructuring of parking areas on campus.

"Every class change we have tremendous pedestrian loads, and those loads conflict with a lot of the traffic," Rice said.

"The expectations people have about parking need to be realistic for the type of parking we have. You will never have parking on campus like you do at 7-Eleven."

The fast and the furious

In East Lansing, 49,214 parking tickets were issued in 2006, which is about 1,500 less than those issued in 2005, when 50,750 tickets were issued, East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert said.

MSU students may be familiar with receiving speeding tickets from the city as opposed to parking violations.

One hot spot where East Lansing police monitor speeding is the north side of the city, which includes Lake Lansing, Coolidge, Abbott and Chandler roads, Wibert said.

"It is an officer's individual decision as to where they will work traffic enforcement," Wibert said. "Saginaw and Abbott, Saginaw and Coolidge, and Hagadorn Road from Haslett Road to Grand River Avenue also is an area of concern."

The city accumulated $864,561.83 in speeding tickets from violators driving up to 10 mph over the limit. In East Lansing, the violation costs $145 and counts for two points on a driver's record.

That money is divided into different areas based on Michigan statute, said Denise Butler, a 54-B District Court administrator.

"Officers are encouraged to locate problem areas and try to concentrate their work efforts," Wibert said.

"An example would be school zones - Burcham Drive has the high school, middle school and Marble Elementary School. As a result, we do a lot of enforcement there."

Ashley A. Smith can be reached at smithas7@msu.edu.

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