Transportation Committee Report
May 14, 2004
Our committee has met twice, and we have another meeting tentatively scheduled for May 26 th. Our initial goal was to educate ourselves about current and planned initiatives on campus and within the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG) that are likely to impact transportation and transportation initiatives on campus.
Toward that end, we met with two people on the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC), Bob Grossman, Chemistry and BPAC member, and Kenzie Nelson, LFUCG and BPAC member. We plan to meet on May 26 th with Margot McCullers, who serves on the UK Parking and Transportation Committee, and Stuart Kearns, Associate Director of Parking and Transportation Services, to learn more about parking and transportation constraints and ideas on campus.
We are considering a number of short-term recommendations for inclusion in the UK Sustainability Plan as follows:
- Separation of parking and transportation in the administrative structure on UK campus to facilitate greater attention to development of transportation policies and infrastructure that promote alternatives to automobiles.
- Develop a plan to improve campus accessibility for bicycles while increasing campus-wide efforts to educate about and enforce bicycle traffic laws. This initiative will be supported by the Campus Bike Study, funded by the Transportation Cabinet with federal funds and slated to commence in June 2004. Some improvements, such as increased bicycle racks and covered racks for dormitories, could be addressed in the short-term. Increased bicycle paths and connectors to city bike lanes will take longer, and should be pursued in collaboration with LFUCG transportation initiatives.
- Maintain and improve communication between UK and LFUCG on issues related to transportation. For example, a future “Campus Sustainability Director” should be a member of BPAC. Free bus-riding is a cornerstone of many campus transportation plans, and maintaining this program should be a focus of sustainability at UK.
- Consider a ‘no-car’ policy for freshman that would entail requiring freshman to leaves cars in off-campus parking and providing bus service to the off-campus parking locations.