by JULIE WILSON

THE Cave Hill campus is putting a number of measures in place to alleviate parking, traffic congestion and related challenges which staff, students and visitors are facing.

A statement from the university yesterday said these measures include a second dual carriageway, (entrance and exit), off-campus parking arrangements and a park-and-ride system to ferry students to parking locations off campus.

Acknowledging the traffic congestion which an enrolment of nearly 8 000 has brought about, Campus Registrar Jacqueline Wade said management of the university is taking a multi-pronged approach to address and alleviate it.

On any weekday, as many as 1 200 cars could compete for parking on campus and for use of the main campus road that leads to the entrance/exit at its junction with the busy University Drive.

She added that students, who drive as many as 500 of these cars, routinely park for eight hours or more on campus. Other students who use cars less regularly at times add to the competition for parking space, as do parents and guardians who drop off and pick up their charges on the premises.

"This large number of cars all seek to leave the campus, or to enter it through one of the busiest intersections off University Drive, at peak times in the morning, midday and in the evening, mirroring the national work and school cycle," the Registrar stated.

In the meantime the Cave Hill campus is implementing a number of strategies to alleviate the problem. These include:

l Widening and upgrading the Free Hill access road to the campus in an effort to relieve some pressure on the University Drive junction. This road will be operative later this month.

l Getting the Ministry of Public Works to modify the phasing of the traffic lights at this junction to allow a larger number of cars to exit at any one time.

l Introduction of a bus shuttle service between the Campus and a section of the National Cultural Foundation's car park at Wanstead.

l Building an additional car park at Black Rock (near the Barbados Archives) and linking this with two pedestrian walkways to University Drive.

The Registrar said persons using both the Black Rock and the NCF parking areas will be assisted by a security presence and public area lighting. (PR)