In an effort to create a greener campus, the notion of a car-free campus has been suggested as a possible goal for the future of CSU parking. While we all must make sacrifices in a variety of areas to combat the growing threats posed by climate change, there are major problems with reductions in parking spaces on campus.
The most obvious of these issues is the commuter dilemma. With many students and faculty traveling from outside Fort Collins to get to campus, eliminating their parking spots would be an unnecessary obstacle.
Ad
Being a Colorado campus, the potential for cold weather is significant. This impacts parking in many ways, as colder weather pushes more commuters to drive instead of biking or forces many to wait in sub-zero temperatures for frequently late buses.
On the other hand, some parking locations are frequently unused. As previously reported by the Collegian, there is major demand for parking in central campus, while the borders of campus are often empty, and close to 2,000 spots will be removed over the next 12-24 months.
Some potential policies that could help limit the negative impacts of cars on campus without detracting from commuter utility would be to create more central parking garages that take up less land space by stacking parking lots. Instead of having dozens of lots, build four to six strategically-placed, moderate-sized garages. This could help solve the central demand issue, and open more land for additional classrooms. Encouraging carpooling efforts, even providing premium spots for cars that register as carpoolers could also reduce cars on campus.
These are just a few of the potential methods Parking Services could utilize to prepare CSU for the coming decade.