Wednesday, 8 August 2018

University's Honeysuckle Campus: No Car Zone

BY XANTHE GREGORY


The University of Newcastle's newly approved Honeysuckle campus will see students encouraged, more than ever, to utilise public transport, walk or ride a bike to class.

Only 12 car parking spaces have been approved for the Honeysuckle campus in a bid to encourage active travel.

With around 6,500 staff and students expected to attend the campus, the parking will be spared for mobility impaired persons, visiting lecturers, senior staff and University operations vehicles.

Accessing the campus by public transport will be made easier with the completion of the city's light rail, just months away.

The University says the development plan, with limited parking spaces, aims to reduce congestion on city roads.

Capital Project Director Damian Bourke says "the University will continue to engage with the community to review and amend our overall transport strategy.

"The University will give anyone in the community the opportunity to come and talk to the project team about our plans.

"We've got the Park and Ride back from the Callaghan campus which runs every 30 minutes in peak times and every hour outside of peak times," says Mr Bourke.

UoN is expected to submit a development application for stage one of the master plan, a $25 million innovation hub, with hopes to begin construction at the start of next year.