2008 Woodie Awards
Football game closes various parking lots
Tiffany Gibson
Issue date: 8/28/08 Section: News
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The Kirksey Old Main parking lot will be closed at 2 p.m. for reserved parking, the Reserved Officers' Training Corps lot behind Jones Haill will be closed at 1:30 p.m. and will be reserved only for faculty, and the Greenland Drive lot will be blocked off all day.
In addition to these lot closings, both ends of Faulkinberry Drive will close at 4:30 p.m. and exiting will only be permitted through Blue Raider Drive.
The Nursing Building curve lots will also close at 2 p.m. and will be strictly reserved for media parking only.
These lot closing have added to a long list of parking changes since the semester began.
"I think parking is horrible," said Danielle Cole, senior recreation and leisure services major. "They should have waited until later in the day to close all of the lots."
Students in search of parking are encouraged to park in the Woodfin and Maintenance lot and the Tennessee Livestock Center.
Parking will be controlled in the Woodfin and Maintenance lots at 2 p.m., and only passes, credentials and a current parking pass will be accepted. For students and visitors that don't have passes or permits, a $5 cover charge can be paid for parking.
The administration has advised students to leave their cars parked and walk to the stadium or class in an attempt to keep the campus less crowded when fans arrive at 5 p.m. for the 6:30 p.m. game.
"We try to encourage students to walk to the game because traffic after the game is terribly congested," said Nancy Weatherly, parking services manager. "Campus Police officers will be directing traffic off campus as best they can because anything to decrease the traffic on campus, especially during a game, is encouraged."
According to Weatherly, all handicap parking will be enforced, and no one will be turned away from parking in an appropriate space.
"There is always plenty of parking on campus, just not convenient parking," Weatherly said. "The Rutherford Boulevard lot across from Greek Row has 1,000 spaces and there is a bus service."
"The key to the congestion on campus is for students and employees to park in the perimeter lots and ride the bus instead of sitting in traffic, looking for a parking space that may or may not become available."
As for future plans of a visitor parking lot, Weatherly said that not enough events are held during the day, so the expense is "unnecessary and pointless."
"There are no [available] parking spaces," said Jeremiah McCrary, sophomore recording industry major. "I don't think [closing off parking lots] will affect our education."
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