Several methods of increasing present capacity have been suggested by parties concerned with the problem. They can conveniently be grouped under short-range and long-range solutions, with the dividing line being whether or not there is any major encroachment on landscape areas.
The Parking Development Company advocated a centralized office to handle the registration and parking of all cars at the University. At the present time there is no general registration of employee and faculty cars, and parking is controlled on a decentralized basis, with the various schools and departments each issuing their own permits. In practice, most employees are unable to obtain parking permits, while faculty permits are being issued at the rate of nine for every five available spaces.
Unfortunately, there does not seem to be any immediate prospect of centralized control, for the various deans and departments heads are jealous of their permit rights.
A second short-range solution that has been suggested is "live parking, in which attendants are employed to supervise the lots. The advantages in this seem obvious, for the attendant can distribute his cars in the most efficient manner. If he knows, for example, that Professor X generally parks for about an hour, he can put his car near the front of a lot, and if he knows that Professor Y spends the whole day in his lab, he can put his car in some out-of-the-way nook.
But there are difficulties to this scheme not the least of which is the fact that those who have been assigned permanent parking spaces in favorable locations are extremely reluctant to give them up. As Arthur D. Trottenberg, Manager of Operating Services, observes: "We have not yet been able to sell the idea of live parking."
A third solution would solve the problem not by increasing the parking capacity, but by limiting the use of cars at the University. One method might be through the issuance of parking permits on priority basis according to need. But student cars will not be limited in the near future, and almost certainly not until a centralized control is set up.
There is always the possibility of reducing demand, rather than limiting it however. The Development Company suggested a clearing house to encourage and control car pools, and recommend that the University provide better facilities for bicycles and motor scooters.
A fourth solution involves the use of city streets for parking. On the portion of Oxford Street bounded by University land, for example, there are approximately 80 spaces on one side of the street. It seems likely that the city might agree to the University assigning these spaces for parking.
There is also the possibility of using streets not completely within the University's bounds. Alternate-side alternate-night parking has long been advocated as a partial solution of the no-parking-on-the-streets-at-night problem, for it would allow for street cleaning and snow removal, two of the reasons the present no-parking ordinance is in effect.
Any total solution must include the expansion of the University's own facilities, however. This year the undergraduate section of the Business School lot has been expanded by 50 per cent, and can handle 144 more cars. And the Andover lot has been increased by more spaces than were lost to the new electron accelerator in the same area.
One possibility lies in the construction of garage facilities within any new buildings. Tentative plans for the eighth house included parking, but the cost of such a project would be quite high.
Another possibility lies in the construction of multilevel garages, but the Development Company estimated that these would cost about $2,300 per car space to build.
The most feasible structure from a financial point of view appears to be an open parking deck, which could be constructed for as little as $1,000 per car according to the Development Company's estimates.
Unfortunately, no immediate solution is likely to appear. John W. Teele, Planning Coordinator, is conducting an investigation of traffic patterns in the Square, and other concerned with the parking problem continue to explore its may facets.
But the situation will in all probability get worse before it gets better. Detroit keeps upping its yearly production of cars, and it keeps making them bigger at the same time. And as the University undertakes to construct new buildings, the available parking space is reduced.
The problem grows each year with no trouble at all, but the solutions, unfortunately, will take time.