Contact: Harriet Laird
STARKVILLE, Miss.—With the largest enrollment in the university’s history, a number of major campus construction projects now ongoing, and several major campus roads closed or detoured because of construction, the sellout crowd for the Mississippi State University–LSU football game is expected to produce substantial delays for gameday traffic and parking.
MSU Chief Communications Officer Sid Salter said: “Clearly, this will be the most challenging year for traffic and parking on gameday in MSU’s history. Fans should expect delays in traffic and accessing parking and plan for them. These gameday delays are part of the price of growth and progress on our campus, and the university has done everything possible to anticipate and lessen the delays.”
Last month, MSU President Mark E. Keenum and other MSU officials met with local and state law enforcement officials to plan strategies to meet those challenges.
Keenum said MSU coordinates operations with gameday partners to make traffic flow and parking as efficient as possible for the thousands of visitors who will come to campus this fall.
“Despite the unique challenges we face this year due to construction and road closures, our hope is to continue to foster an inviting atmosphere on gameday and lessen any chance of frustration for our fans and friends attending the game," said Amy Tuck, MSU's vice president for campus services and Game Day Committee chair. “We’re going to need the continued cooperation of all our fans.”
MSU Police Chief Vance Rice urged fans to approach campus from the major highways–182, 82 or 12–that are nearest the lot or area in which fans desire to park. “With road closures, driving across campus will be very slow and for some routes, almost impossible,” said Rice. “Drivers should allow at least an additional half-hour of travel time once they arrive on campus just to get parked and situated.”
For information on road closures and detours, drivers are urged to consult the MSU CampusBird interactive maps by accessing http://bit.ly/GameDayMap2015, which will link to just the traffic, activities, and transit layer or http://bit.ly/MSUvsLSU2015, which will link to everything currently on the gameday layers (includes restrooms, dining, ATM, and safety information.)
Bulldog fans also are reminded to follow these important Twitter accounts for updates on traffic conditions, shuttles and parking: @maroonalert, @msstate, @hailstate, @hailstateops, @Starkville_PD, and @ride_smart.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.