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Commencement on the University of Maine campus next weekend will likely draw people from distant places – from their cars, that is. In an effort to control traffic and increase comfort for those expected at graduation next Saturday, the university has set up a shuttle bus service from four campus lots that will travel to Morse Field throughout the event.
Starting at 8 a.m., spectators will be able to board shuttle buses every five minutes from the Orchard, Maine Center for the Arts, Belgrade and Steam Plant lots to go to graduation. Shuttle service to commencement will last two and a half hours and will resume at the end of the ceremony until everyone has been shuttled back to their cars, according to Parking Services Director Paul Paradis.
“With the traffic flow issue and people coming on the campus, [organizers of commencement] wanted to be better prepared for that,” Paradis said, saying other reasons included “making people more comfortable and not penalizing people for parking in some of the farther away lots.”
“Nineteen hundred and one students have applied to graduate, so it’s the largest [graduating class] ever in the university’s history,” said Jan Williams, associate director of Student Records and logistics coordinator for commencement. “We’re anticipating the same [traffic] problems we had last year.”
William’s said the shuttle bus service will help relieve that traffic and congestion commencement brings to the area.
“We had to delay commencement by half an hour last year to let people get to campus and park,” she said.
Literature about the shuttle bus service, parking, and other information about this year’s graduation was sent to students’ homes, and Williams said she hopes people will take advantage of the new service.
By offering shuttle bus services from some of the more remote parking lots, the hope is that people won’t leave their cars parked along College Avenue, Parades said, something he said is a major factor in congesting traffic after the ceremony.
“I think it’ll make a big difference. People can come in the back way – they have more options [of how to enter campus] instead of that one exit,” Paradis said, adding that the presence of a shuttle bus service might entice more people to take different exits or routes onto campus and park in one of the lots shuttle buses will depart from.
Williams said she has also communicated with the Department of Transportation and arranged for several portable generator signs to be erected on the highway starting this Saturday warning motorists about possible traffic problems on May 8.
Although Williams and the rest of the commencement committee have planned for parking and traffic issues, Williams said she still has one major concern about traffic flow before and after graduation – the two lanes of traffic that flow down into a single lane of traffic on Stillwater Avenue and off the Orono exit.
“I have no professional experience in this or anything, [but] I do have a concern,” Williams said. “You can do all the planning you can, but the infrastructure will always be the same.”
The shuttle buses used for graduation are being provided by Cyr bus lines and have been paid for by the President’s Office.
