How One University Will Become Less Car-Centric

James Sinclair writes about the efforts of Fresno State University in California to shift its transportation focus away from parking and cars toward a more multi-modal community. Sinclair's post begins by describing the land use context of the city of Fresno, located in an expansive part of California's Central Valley that has seen waves of urban and suburban development.

Despite the city's transition away from the agricultural setting of its past, Fresno State has "operated as a car-campus, and made no efforts to change that," writes Sinclair. His analysis of those efforts includes a look at collision data from around the campus and references to earlier posts critiquing developments and plans.

Yet in the current post, Sinclair is able to report a new direction for the university's transportation strategies:

Anyway, after apparently conceding that you can't build your way out of congestion and parking demand, it looks like change has finally arrived at Fresno State. And not just a small change: a wave of changes meant to encourage alternative modes of transportation, all happening within the past 6 months. 

Sinclair breaks down each of these specific points of action by Fresno State in much more detail in the post:

• New campus shuttle bus
• Partnerships creating bus service to Visalia and north to Yosemite
• Free bus passes on FAX and Clovis Stageline for all students and staff
• Scramble crosswalk on Cedar
• Bicycle barns (secure bicycle parking)
• Bicycle maintenance stations
• High quality Active Transportation Master Plan prepared by Alta

Hat tip to Angie Schmitt at Streetsblog USA for sharing Sinclair's post.