Not in my backyard

This semester, Georgetown students and residents alike complained loudly about rats and mice invading the neighborhood.

In the Georgetown University Student Association Senate, Arman Ismail (COL ‘11—Reynolds) led efforts to mollify what he called “a growing problem” that have culminated in a $200 allocation for waste disposal awareness and improvement.

On the georgetownforum listserv, a neighborhood complained that the problem had gotten out of hand using some vivid imagery:

“We have a never ending supply of monster sized ravenous rats boring through the walls of my house. [T]he whole neighborhood is over run with rats,” the resident wrote, adding that introducing snakes to Georgetown was a possible solution.

But when asked if Facilities had been receiving more work orders regarding vermin recently, Director of Facilities Karen Frank wrote in an e-mail that her office “[has] in fact noticed a sharp drop off of calls about vermin.”

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The proposed loop road and new GUTS routes

The last time University officials discussed the transportation aspect of the 2010 Campus Plan back in May, they said they were tentatively planning to send the Dupont GUTS bus through the Canal Road entrance, meaning the shuttle route would be extended to the experimental 4.7 mile test route permanently.  At last night’s meeting presenting the University’s first draft of its transportation plans, University officials made it clear that the rerouting isn’t just tentative—it’s now part of the University’s preferred draft plan.

Vice President for Facilities and Student Housing Karen Frank, who presented the University’s transportation plans to neighbors last night, explained that Georgetown would like to build a loop road on the west side of campus (as illustrated above) which would allow more buses to use the Canal Road entrance.

When the University requested the rights to build the Canal Road entrance in its last ten year plan it promised neighbors that the new entrance would be used for GUTS buses. Georgetown students, faculty and staff have been spared from the extended route thus far thanks to the fact that the current set-up of the parking lot near McDonough makes it nearly impossible for buses to turn around on campus.

The other problem is that between 6:15 a.m. and 10:15 a.m. on weekdays—prime rush hour time—drivers are not permitted to make left turns off of the Canal Road entrance.  If the University could get the left-turn prohibition lifted and build the loop road, all buses besides the Wisconsin Avenue route would be able to enter and exit through Canal Road.

The potential roadblock for the plan is the Park Service, which owns the land west of campus that abuts the proposed loop road.  While the road would be on GU property, the University has an agreement with the Park Service to only use that part of campus for service vehicles.  Frank said she is pushing for the definition of “service vehicles” to be any vehicle “dedicated to the University,” which would include GUTS buses.  However, Frank said, the Park Service is “not real easy to work with.”

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