You and your car on campus

Getting around Lawrence

Here are a few things to remember about getting around town: Streets named after U.S. states run north/south, and numbered streets run east/west. Iowa, 23rd and Massachusetts streets are generally the busiest in Lawrence, so if it’s rush hour and you’re running late, consider avoiding those.

If you think you’ll be able to dodge construction zones, think again. The City of Lawrence provides weekly construction updates at lawrenceks.org/construction, as does the Journal-World every Sunday.

Here are a few ongoing projects to have on your radar:

— Crews have moved into the next phase of a project that will add a turn lane to the intersection of Sixth and Iowa. Sixth Street will be widened for the installation of a dedicated westbound left turn lane. The outside westbound lane of Sixth Street will be closed from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, for construction work north of the intersection. There will be two lanes available for east- and westbound traffic before 9 a.m. and after 4 p.m. on weekdays and all times on weekends. Traffic speeds are reduced at this time.

— Construction continues on intersection improvements at 23rd and Iowa. Traffic will be shifted to the south side of the intersection to construct the next phase of the intersection. Each approach to the intersection will have a dedicated left turn lane and one through lane. There will not be two lanes for westbound traffic. The entire 23rd and Iowa project is due for completion in November.

— Eastbound and westbound 31st Street from Louisiana Street to Ousdahl Road and Louisiana Street, just south of 31st Street, will be closed to all traffic. Motorists will be able to turn north on Louisiana from 31st Street or east on 31st Street from Louisiana.

A single Kansas University parking ticket costs $25. That money could buy three six-packs of semi-decent beer, four medium Domino’s pizzas or an almost-but-not-quite lifetime supply of Top Ramen, just to throw out a few college cliches.

These tickets may be easy to accumulate, but they can be just as easy to avoid, said KU Parking director Donna Hultine.

Hultine’s first piece of advice for students bringing cars to campus: Buy a permit. All campus lots require a permit, and one size does not fit all. Consult the downloadable map at parking.ku.edu to find the lot that fits your needs. Permits can be purchased online at parking.ku.edu and mailed to recipients.

Once you’ve bought your permit, study up.

“I think a lot of students don’t completely understand where they can park with their permit,” Hultine said. “When they get their permit, there’s a little ‘Parking 101’ brochure in the envelope. If they get that, they really should be able to avoid a ticket.”

Even with a permit, you still have to pay all parking meters. There is no free parking on campus during the week, so don’t even try. Most lots open to vehicles without permits after 5 p.m., but not all. To know for sure, check out the sign at the entrance of every parking lot that indicates the hours and required permit.

Planning a visit with family or friends? You’re in luck. Hultine said the lots near residence halls open up during the weekends, regardless of permit status.

In case you’re issued a ticket after all this, ignoring it won’t make it go away. The ticket becomes due immediately, and it automatically puts a hold on your enrollment and transcript. Even worse, three unpaid tickets that are more than 10 business days old will result in the vehicle being towed from campus. Tickets can be paid online at parking.ku.edu.

Still, there are options if you feel your ticket is unjustified. First-time offenders can redeem themselves with a first-time ticket forgiveness quiz at parking.ku.edu.

After that, appeals can be submitted at parking.ku.edu within 10 business days of the citation. Each appeal is handled by the Court of Parking Appeals, an adjudication system within the KU School of Law. You can opt to make a personal appeal, in which case the court clerk will contact you to schedule a hearing time if your appeal is accepted for a personal hearing.

Before going through those steps, “I would suggest that if somebody just doesn’t understand why they got this ticket, they can just come in to talk to somebody,” Hultine said.

The KU Parking office is in the Allen Fieldhouse garage at 1501 Irving Hill Road and can be reached by email at kupark@ku.edu or by phone at 864-7275.

With two fewer lots on Daisy Hill this year, “parking is tight on campus,” Hultine said. With that in mind, it may be smarter to skip parking altogether and take the bus.

“If you have the option of taking the bus, we have a really awesome transit system. It covers so much of Lawrence,” she said. “And students are paying for it anyway. It’s part of their required campus fee.”