From grocery stores, dormitories and parking garages, the University of Utah’s new Physical Development Framework aims to make campus a more accessible place of learning and residence for students. A key part of this is rethinking transportation and parking on campus. With the new project, the U aims to build a “‘car-lite’ core with strategically located parking, improved shuttle routes and enhanced bike and pedestrian infrastructure to make campus easier to navigate.”

Collin Simmons, executive director of auxiliary services, explained the key measures the U plans to implement to make commuting easier.

“I think the biggest two [things] are frequency and proximity,” Simmons said. “The more frequent we can have buses, trains and those services coming to campus, the easier it is for students, staff and faculty to get here instead of having an hour in between buses.”

The specific placement of rails, roads and garages is still being determined.  But, more details on parking plans will become available as plans for the project are finalized.

“The reason is until we understand what the physical development plan will tell us as far as buildings and spaces, you can’t really make the parking plan first or last. It has to be a part of the process,” Simmons said. “That’s an ongoing process right now with the Board of Trustees, the President’s Cabinet and many folks like myself that are sitting in these meetings trying to be strategic about how we grow, where we grow and what it looks like.”

The plan is confirmed to include a new parking garage on campus, though its location is still being determined. Jennifer Reed, associate vice president of Auxiliary Services, discussed its construction.

“We are working now to determine where the next parking garage that we build will go. We’re hoping to have a decision on that location by the end of June of this year,” Reed said. “We have already received permission from the legislature to bond for a parking garage, so we’re doing the planning around transportation and mobility hubs.”

The Physical Development Plan was also developed to help the U meet goals outlined in its Strategy 2030 plan. Reed said developing a commuting framework will help accomplish these goals.

“What that framework includes is identifying neighborhoods for different entities on campus, like athletics and academia,” Reed said. “And the magic piece of that includes a density around housing and student services. There is a dense social communal experience for students and all of the other populations to be able to gather, build relationships, enhance their experience on campus.”

Part of making campus more accessible for students also includes strategically planning on-campus housing. Reed explained how having more on-campus housing could impact parking and commuting on campus.

“What we’re hoping is that as we increase the number of beds in college town magic, is the number of cars that we have coming to campus actually goes down because those students that live here and have services here as part of college town magic won’t need a vehicle with the incredible transit access that we have going through our campus to downtown,” Reed said.

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