Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the time of the SGA forum.
As part of an initiative to make the area around the Stamp Student Union a pedestrian-only zone, university officials will ban all transit, with the exception of two Shuttle-UM lines, on Campus Drive during the summer.
Shutting down the busiest street on the campus is meant to be an experiment for a long-term change outlined in the university’s Facilities Master Plan, last updated in 2007, which aims to make the area around Campus Drive transit free, leaving the road open only for pedestrians, emergency vehicles and an internal campus loop shuttle. According to the Maryland Transit Administration, Campus Drive is used by about 750 transit vehicles and 5,500 private cars between the hours of 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. on an average weekday.
Vice President of Administrative Affairs Ann Wylie could not be reached for comment, but Wylie’s assistant, Jane Mulliken, said the university would officially announce its plans to block off the road today.
The summer ban is meant to be a test run to see whether or not Shuttle-UM ridership will be significantly impacted by the change in routes that will require buses to avoid what is now the main drag for many Department of Transportation and Metro Bus lines that run through the campus, said David Daddio, co-founder of the development blog Rethink College Park.
Above all, Daddio said, the ban on traffic on Campus Drive could be detrimental to the establishment of the Purple Line — a proposed light-rail system that would connect Metro lines from Bethesda to New Carrollton and would connect Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties. Although students, MTA officials and members of the surrounding community have come out in support of a Campus Drive alignment for the light-rail system, the university stands in staunch support of a Preinkert Drive alignment.
“It’s kind of an underhanded way of [the university Administration] trying to get their way with the Purple Line,” Daddio said. “I wouldn’t say that it’s an absolutely fullproof strategy that’s going to get them what they want, but there’s that intention there.”
Purple Line placement is being researched by the MTA, which has found it would be more expensive and difficult to implement a Preinkert Drive alignment than one on Campus Drive. The university has said running a rail system down Campus Drive would emit electromagnetic waves that would interfere in scientific research.
“The university does not seem to want to address the reality of the situation, which is that the line they want is really not possible,” Daddio said. “They don’t seem to be properly engaged with the state or they would have come to the conclusion by now that at the end of the day it’s not possible to do what they want to do.”
Student Government Association President Steve Glickman said he was disappointed that students weren’t consulted.
“A big thing about this whole thing is that students weren’t included in this process,” Glickman said. “Now that they kind of have made their decision about it, they’re not willing to include students in the process.”
To provide students with more information concerning the summer ban, the SGA will be holding a forum next Tuesday from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Margaret Brent Room in the Stamp Student Union.
korkut@umdbk.com