ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, August 27, 1996 TAG: 9608270129
SECTION: WELCOME STUDENTS PAGE: 20 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: HAL SHEIKERZ STAFF WRITER
Nightmare at the commuter lot.
If you think everything in the New River Valley is calm, quiet and relaxed, you are wrong.
Commuter parking for thousands of students at Virginia Tech is anything but pleasant. During the first few weeks of school, parking conditions are as bad as the day before Christmas at a shopping mall. Students have to fight for a space.
"At the beginning of the semester, [parking] is insane," said Will Finocchio, a rising senior at Tech. "They have overflow parking, but it's near the Duck Pond, and it's inconvenient."
While there are several parking lots at Tech, most students park in the "B" lot, which everyone calls the "commuter lot" - 2,337 parking spaces off Prices Fork Road behind Cowgill and Whittemore halls.
Other popular commuter spots include a lot behind Litton Reaves Hall off Washington Street and Duck Pond Drive, and lots adjacent to Lane Stadium and Cassell Coliseum. Residents may also park their cars at another giant lot with 2,186 spaces at the end of Washington Street, commonly called "the cage" because it is surrounded by wire fencing.
Getting a good parking spot in the commuter lot is a big deal at Tech. There are days when students walk into class and say to their friend, "I saw you had a front row parking spot. What time did you get here?"
Kelly Roth said the best time to get a parking spot is to wait until five minutes before classes start. "But then you're late to class."
"Getting a good spot takes 15-20 minutes," Roth said. "I know it's going to get even worse, now that more students are living off campus."
This year's freshmen class is expected to be about 5,200 students, 400 more than the university had planned. Since first-year students are required to live on campus, many more upperclassmen are having to live off campus and commute.
During the first week of fall semester at Tech, students will park anywhere, as long as it's inside the commuter lot. Cars can be found on the grass, the median and along yellow-painted curbs. Of course, the cars also are nicely decorated with $10 orange parking tickets on the front windshield.
Curtis Lynch, parking services manager at Tech, said parking services gives students a "grace period" during the first week of school and does not ticket cars that don't have a valid parking permit. However, Lynch said that as many as 5,000 tickets are issued for illegal parking during the first two weeks of school.
Ben Harden said he has even parked at the Marriott Hotel on Prices Fork Road across from the campus golf course and then walked to campus. "I try to come to class 20-30 minutes early to find a spot," he said.
Parking isn't as bad at Radford University. In fact, many students walk to the campus because most off-campus housing is within a few blocks.
Tim Campbell, a senior at RU, doesn't even buy a campus parking sticker. He said he finds spots along the street near academic buildings.
Some students have a hard time finding a spot at RU. Gonzalo Reyna, who lives in Blacksburg, said in addition to the 25-minute drive to Radford, he sometimes has to drive around to find a parking space.
"Sometimes it's hard to find a spot in the afternoon and early morning when everyone is coming [to campus]," Reyna said.
To ease the pain a little at Tech, parking services has designated 55 additional two-hour parking meters in the front row of the commuter lot right behind Cowgill Hall. Lynch said students have complained that there weren't enough spaces available for "temporary parking" so they could go to campus to see a professor or drop off a project.
"There's never any parking close to anywhere you need to go, like classes or around the Drillfield,'' said Joshua Whittaker. Whittaker, however, understands the parking problems. He said students at every college campus complain that there is not enough parking.
Whittaker couldn't be more right. Compared with most other colleges, Radford and Tech provide adequate parking for the number of students who purchase permits. Some schools provide parking - but then you have to take a shuttle bus to get to campus. For instance, at the University of North Carolina, students can't even purchase a parking permit if they live within two miles of the campus.
Of course, there is a solution. Students can take the bus or walk to class. After all, most students at Tech or Radford do live within a two-mile radius of campus.
Tech students pay $42 a year for Blacksburg Transit and are allowed unlimited use of the community bus system. In fact, a large part of the BT operating budget comes from Virginia Tech student fees. The BT provides bus service throughout the Blacksburg area, to the mall area in Christiansburg and to downtown Christiansburg. The bus schedule runs Monday-Wednesday, 7 a.m.-1 a.m.; Thursday-Friday, 7 a.m.-2:45 a.m.; Saturdays, 8 a.m.-2:45 a.m. and Sundays 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Hours vary during breaks in the academic year and summers.
But some students just don't want to ride a bus.
"I can usually find a spot faster than I can wait around and ride the bus to campus," Harden explained.
Aryn Myers, a rising senior, lived near campus at Tech Terrace apartments so she could walk to class. This year she has a car. Even though she will live at Special Purpose Housing and can take the shuttle to campus, she said she may be tempted to drive to class some days.
Another solution would be to carpool with roommates, neighbors and friends who have the same class schedule. Students have complained how they often see cars driving by bus stops at Foxridge and the driver is the only person in the car.
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM Staff. 1. There are 50 metered parking spacesby CNBalong the edge of the commuter lot on Perry Street in Blacksburg.
Complaints from students brought plans to add 55 more. color. 2.
With plenty of parking patrols on campus, up to 5,000 tickets
usually are issued at Virginia Tech during the first two weeks of
school. Graphic: Charts by staff. 1. Parking at Virginia Tech. 2.
Radford University parking. 3. College parking. B&W & color maps by
staff.