Jack Eble 4/30/13 Professor Wright ENC 3331 Plan of Action: No More Time for Complaining, Its Time

to Act Imagine a world where there is no traffic; a land of wait-free roads and sidewalks that are never clustered or stuck in a jam. The key word in this description is imagine because, unfortunately, that world can only be seen in a dream. Traffic is an issue we all face here in the city of Orlando, Florida, but it may be the most relevant for a student at the University of Central Florida. The second largest school in the country, UCF has over 60,000 students, the majority of which take classes on campus. This booming number of students has caused traffic all around campus, whether you are trying to get on or off campus, parking, and even walking on campus. Yes, this is an issue that affects faculty and students alike but is it an unsolvable problem? No. Necessary steps can be taken to combat the issue of traffic and take this unneeded stress off of peoples backs. Is the issue of traffic solvable? Most would say no. What is for sure is that there havent been any attempts to solve the issue here at UCF. Anyone who is associated with the University of Central Florida should not have to accept traffic as an anchor to the need for a smooth and stress-free day at school. First, in order to make this a legitimate argument against the issue of traffic, I am going to need evidence that traffic is actually a serious issue at UCF. The best way to start of the argument is establishing the times at which traffic coming on and off campus is the worst. Based

on my observations and personal experience, traffic coming onto campus is worst from late morning to early afternoon, approximately 11 am to about 2 pm. When students are leaving campus between the hours of 5 and 6 pm, traffic is substantial from the late afternoon classes getting out. Since the times when the traffic occurs have been identified, now it is time to look at what areas of classes become the most congested. Out of personal experience, two intersections reach my immediate attention. The intersection of Gemini Boulevard and Libra Drive become a train wreck in the hours between 4 and 6 pm. The Gemini Boulevard exit onto N. Alafaya Trial near Greek Park Drive is a tough entrance and exit along with the N. Alafaya Trial entrance onto Central Florida Boulevard. Parking must also be addressed in the manner of where the traffic happens. UCF has nine parking garages that have over 10,100 parking spaces to go along with over 40 surface lots that hold an additional 17,500 spots (Stephens, 3). In 2012, over 55,700 permanent parking passes were sold and there were also approximately 183,000 daily passes sold (Stephens, 3). After doing the math, there are about 27,600 parking spots for over 55,700 permanent parkers. That is almost a 30,000 spot difference. Yes, it is understood that all the permanent spot holders are not all there at once. Subtract around 20,000 students and there is still almost a 10,000 parking spot handicap. Parking can easily be mentioned in the issue for traffic because the majority of traffic on the main roads on campus includes people scrambling for parking spots. Understand when and where the traffic takes place in integral to the overall movement to help ease traffic. If you blindly throw out solutions without taking everything into account, you can put yourself in a position that was worse than your first. Now that I have established reference points for the source of traffic issues, how do you prove that it is a problem? To begin, the issue of parking is a very difficult and hard problem to fix. UCF has seemingly attempted to solve the problem with the continued construction of

parking garages. This is shown by the current installment of a 1,080 parking space garage on Libra Drive near the Water Tower, as Melissa Catalanotto of Knight News reports. The continued construction may help in the long run, but it currently adds to the traffic as construction companies have to continue to move large vehicles and equipment through UCFs main roads. The issue of parking, I believe, is directly correlated with the increase in population. The solution to population is out of the command of a student, as this is solely in the president and upper management of the universitys hands. President John Hitt said in his September 2012 State of the University Address that, We will stop growing when our size becomes unmanageable. (Catalanotto). President Hitts statement clearly shows his view on the manner that UCFs population has not become unmanageable, meaning continued growth at UCF. The issue of traffic lights, however, has the chance to be changed at a more reasonable level. The information that would have to be found would be if the traffic lights are a reasonable contributor to the traffic. All of the UCF traffic lights are based off of a timer and that timer changes based on the time of day and the predicted traffic, which is primarily on weekdays. On the weekends, however, the lights are based off of the amount of traffic that is in the area. If there are few cars in the area, then the lights will change shortly after no cars go through the intersection. In one of the aforementioned paragraphs, I mentioned the intersections and entrances that were particularly bothersome. For the sake of traffic lights, there are two lights that have been a personal issue for me. To begin, the light at the intersection of Gemini Boulevard and Libra Drive has a bad timing to it. For example, between 5 and 6 pm when students are beginning to leave campus, its gets backed up in that area. Since the new road Woodbury Road was built by the entrance to 408 east, people have taken it as a shortcut to E. Colonial Boulevard to avoid the mess on Alafaya Trail. Since a large number of people take this

as a back road, its causes a big back-up on UCF campus. The light turning left onto Libra Drive from Gemini Boulevard only lets about 3 to 5 cars go every two and a half minutes. When everyone is trying to get off campus, it backs the line up from Libra Drive back to the UCF Arena. The other light that causes problems for pedestrians is the light right outside the UCF Recreation and Wellness Center. The lights are timed throughout the day and will stay green for the entire time even if there are no cars coming. The one documented time I timed it, a total of fifteen cars passed in ninety seconds, with ten passing when the light originally went green and the remaining five passing for the remaining eighty-some seconds. This is a nuisance for pedestrians, being that the only option is to sit and look at the other side hopelessly or jaywalk. Jaywalking puts in the position where if the first car that turns the corner is a policemen, then you could be faced with a $67 fine. The wait is bad, but not worth $67. Students shouldnt have to sit and stare at an empty road with the only option being taking the chance of jaywalking. These aforementioned examples are only two in the many exits and entrances with the other crosswalks as well. The action that I am taking is to change UCF to a more consistent traffic light system. Eliminate the timed lights that remain the same all day no matter what kind of traffic is on the roads. Install a system that is similar to what is used on weekends and later in the evening, which is a light system that changes based on the amount of traffic present. If there is a good amount of cars, then keep the traffic moving until it slows down. Once the traffic lightens up, then the light can change and get pedestrians across without having to wait and stare at an empty street. If the light system is consistent with the amount of traffic that is actually present, then there will be a much easier flow of traffic. I will have to present this idea to the UCF Police Department and also the Parking and Traffic Department here at UCF, since they would be an immediate source to discuss the issue. The biggest factor in getting this kind of

action done is that I would have to separate myself from every other complainer running into each of the offices, respectively, and being another crazy complainer. I will have to present the facts and inconsistencies in a professional manner in order to gain ethos with those who can adopt this solution. Once I have their respect, using my personal account and with more research, I can use logos to prove to those responsible that this is a problem and it can be fixed in a much more efficient manner. The pathos of my presentation, I feel, is there right off the back because traffic affects everyone no matter what your position is on campus so if any reasonable solution is dealt to possibly help the issue, the emotional appeal is there. The three appeals are essential for this issue, especially ethos and logos. I need to show those I am presenting my information to that I believe this is a problem that needs to be fixed. If I can prove that I am not just the everyday complainer, then I will receive the respect needed to have my position taken seriously. In conclusion, the traffic problem at UCF is an issue that needs to be addressed, as it is a bothersome stress that is put on already stressed out college students. Whether going to class, work, or back home, the issue of traffic effects students and faculty, alike. The timed lights have not given good results, judging how the notoriety of UCFs traffic has grown to be well known. If we can change it to a consistent system that UCF only uses on weekends and later hours, then the traffic flow will be easy-going all day, not just certain times of the day. The time of being a complainer is over; the time to help rid of a wretched stress has come.

Works Cited Catalanotto, Melissa. "Students Upset With UCF Parking As Population Soars." KnightNews.com RSS. N.p., 10 Oct. 2012. Web. 03 Apr. 2013. Stephens, Peter. "Traffic Statistical Report 2010-12." University of Central Florida Police Department. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2013.