It could never be more truly said than of the … remedy, that it was worse than the disease.” That’s what James Madison wrote about the administration’s plan to reduce on-campus traffic in the Federalist Papers. He was truly a man before his time.
The campus is pedestrian-dominated, and is designed to be so. South campus in particular is crisscrossed with sidewalks, and roads are finely divided by crosswalks and stop signs. The 2001-2020 Facilities Master Plan, which lays out a vision for campus layout for the next 10 years, is dedicated to reducing the number of cars on the campus and making everything even more walker-friendly.
Perhaps the single most dramatic part of this plan is to close Campus Drive to outside traffic. Nothing but pure walkability between the Stamp Student Union and the University Health Center. This is the good part of the plan. Stamp is the heart of the campus, and it should reflect a commitment to building a walkable campus.
Closing Campus Drive to outside traffic does not mean replacing the road with sidewalks and another fountain, however. The Maryland Transit Authority’s vision has the Purple Line Metro running in front of Stamp. Besides the trains, only emergency vehicles and UM buses would travel along Campus Drive.
A couple of years ago, I saw a presentation given by MTA engineers. They had created a nifty computer simulation of how traffic would function in such an arrangement. Naturally, cutting out Campus Drive created a bit of congestion around the “M” circle, but traffic through campus was essentially eliminated. This arrangement is the dream.
Vice President for Administrative Affairs Ann Wylie has a different vision. For years, university President Dan Mote unrelentingly opposed having the Purple Line running down Campus Drive, often (incorrectly) claiming that putting the train in front of Stamp would necessitate the construction of giant fences to prevent students from wandering in front of trains. At the moment, no one has any train-building money, so the train alignment isn’t even at issue.
What Wylie and the administration are currently pushing (and what is described in the Facilities Master Plan) is a closure of Campus Drive to outside traffic — and also to UM buses. The beloved blue line, the ever-entertaining South Campus Connector, the dependable 104 Metro bus — none of them would take you to Stamp any longer. Instead, an internal campus loop would be set up. A bus could take you from off the campus to some drop-off point at the periphery of the campus. You would then wait for the internal loop to get anywhere within the campus.
Between June 21 and Aug. 13, the administration is running a pilot test of the plan to eliminate Campus Drive traffic. To get Independence Day celebrations going, cars will likely be allowed access to Campus Drive on July 4. Otherwise, however, the road will be blocked from the “M” circle up to the fork by the beginning of Cole Field House. Shuttle UM buses will go to the Regents Drive parking garage instead of to Stamp. Metro buses will go to Mowatt Lane, just past the Hillel Center and Van Munching Hall.
Administrators failed spectacularly in consulting students before putting this pilot program into action. The traffic plan will play a large role in defining the campus experience. The Facilities Master Plan aims to replace traffic with increased public transportation use. That goal is not served by pushing buses to the periphery of campus. Let’s keep the middle of our campus bus-tastic.
Mardy Shualy is a senior government and politics major. He can be reached at shualy at umdbk dot com.
