by Britty Johnson
A new school year has begun at the University of West Georgia and the campus is filled with already-busy students, faculty, and staff. In addition to a dramatic increase in the number of freshmen and transfer students this year, the Carrollton campus has welcomed a few new changes.
According to Brendan Bowen, assistant vice president of Campus Planning & Facilities, CP&F has actively partnered with Parking and Transportation Services, community stakeholders, and design experts to develop a safe and efficient infrastructure for biking on campus under UWG President Kyle Marrero's leadership.
CP&F is currently partnering with Kaizen Collaborative, a group that specializes in parks and greenway trail planning and design, as well as the Toole Group, the nation's leading planning, engineering, and landscape architecture firm. The department is working to complete a bicycle track and Greenbelt connector around the perimeter of West Georgia Drive. The bike lanes will be a 1.25 mile dedicated bicycle track around the perimeter of campus. The perimeter lane will ultimately connect to the 16-mile Carrollton Greenbelt, as well as downtown Carrollton via a corridor along Center Street and the Athletic Complex. This project, which will reach completion during fall 2015, is the first step in a multi-year plan that will promote health, wellness, and clean transportation for thousands of students, faculty, staff, and guests.
Future plans also include a Greenbelt spur from Watson Hall to the East Entrance at West Georgia Drive for an additional 0.5 mile. As part of the strategy to promote clean transportation, UWG also rebuilt Back Campus Drive into a beautiful pedestrian- and bicycle-safe plaza over the summer. Faculty and staff parking is limited to designated spaces only in the Old Auditorium lot to provide adequate space or maneuvering and to ensure the safety of pedestrians.
According to Brendan, giving students a new transportation option is part of a strategy to encourage students to “go green.”
“Combined with a robust transit system and a pedestrian-friendly campus, the bike lanes are expected to reduce the number of cars on campus along with their resulting carbon emissions,” Brendan said. “This will in turn reduce our carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in a more sustainable campus.”
These initiatives are part of UWG's plan to create a sustainable campus that will serve the higher education needs of the region for generations to come.
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