Ole Miss Plan to Avoid Traffic and Parking Mess at Graduation

As graduation at the University of Mississippi approaches, this year Ole Miss is making sure that parents and family have a place to park on campus.
“Graduation is one of those special times of year we always want to get everyone in and out of here as efficiently as we possibly can,” said Mike Harris, the director of parking and transportation.
Last year, that didn’t work out so well.  Several individual schools had their own ceremonies at various locations on campus throughout the day. As some were letting out, others were supposed to be starting, and the result was traffic tie-ups, hard-to-find parking and frustrated families.
“We want to make sure that there is no extra stress for family members this year because we know that last year was stressful for some people. We just want to make sure things run smoothly and easy for people who may not know campus,” Harris said.
This year, Harris says there are many more parking spots available.
“Obviously last year we didn’t have the residential garage, we didn’t have the additional parking that we have on the north side of campus like we do this year. All and all we have an additional 2,000 spaces on the north side of campus that we didn’t have last year, so that will definitely help out.”
Barrett Teller is a senior at Ole Miss who hopes that the additions make a difference.
“A couple years ago my sister graduated and parking was a real challenge. My parents couldn’t find anywhere to park their car. There were cars literally everywhere and people getting tickets left and right, so I hope this year it will be a lot easier for my parents because it was really frustrating for them last time,” said Teller.
If you’re going this year, the university’s commencement website includes maps showing available parking and the locations all graduation ceremonies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ze0kdJNM-pI
Original content contributed by Jack Orloff.  Edited by Kira Bettineschi.