City Looks For Ways to Improve Traffic, Parking on Square

Imagine you’re driving to the Square one day to get a bite to eat or see a band, only to discover you can’t find a parking space. No matter how many times you circle the courthouse, there’s not an empty spot to be found.

As the student population continues to increase at the University of Mississippi, parking and traffic are becoming more of an issue on and around Oxford Square.

At first glance, the problem could be attributed to rapid growth in the city of Oxford. However, city planner Tim Akers says the “growth” is due to recent annexation.

“That’s most of the growth. It’s not that new people moved in, you know. They were here,” Akers said.

Akers admits the numbers can be misleading. “You would think that the population increased by 22% or something like that, when in reality, if you took out the 5,000 people we annexed, we would have very modest growth,” Akers said.

With Oxford population growth ruled out, a more likely cause for the Square’s traffic woes appears to be increasing enrollment at the university, which currently stands at over 15,000 on the Oxford campus.

Ryan Osborne, an employee of YaYa’s Frozen Yogurt, believes the rise in enrollment is the cause.

“I know for a fact that because the university’s been growing, the more people that are moving into the town, there’s obviously going to be a correlation [with traffic],” Osborne said.

Proud Larry’s kitchen manager Chris LeFevre agrees, and believes the increase in enrollment will also lead to higher attendance at football games, and even more traffic.

“As the university population goes up, there’s going to be more people going to the games, and more traffic around the Square, more problems,” LeFevre said.

Oxford city officials are now looking for solutions to the parking problem, including possible construction of a parking garage, or the introduction of paid parking on the Square.

Akers, a member of the Downtown Parking Committee, says the city is taking applications from parking management firms that can design a downtown parking plan.

Osborne supports the installation of parking meters on the Square because he believes the current two-hour parking rule is inconvenient.

“I hate two-hour parking, especially when working here. It’s just hard to have to park on the Square and have to run back to your car every two hours,” Osborne said.

On the other hand, LeFevre thinks a parking garage would be good for the Square, but not parking meters.

“I don’t know how much that will help. I guess it would keep some people from parking in spots when they don’t have the money to pay, but I don’t really want to pay for a parking spot,” LeFevre said.

Either of these solutions could determine if parking on the Square gets easier, or remains a seemingly endless waiting game.