Sustainability advocates on campus hope that changes to the Forsyth path and the accessibility of on-campus parking will promote students walking and biking rather than driving.

This spring, sidewalks bordering Forsyth Boulevard were painted with symbols and lanes intended to direct student traffic. Over the summer, Washington University installed rumble strips—textured areas that signal a nearby road—on the path to warn bicyclists of upcoming intersections. Other new features include bold stops for cars and intersection symbols for foot and bike traffic.

Students seemed generally supportive of the footpath changes. However, reactions to the limited amount of parking spots, particularly for students living in the Lofts of Washington University, were more mixed.

Senior and bicyclist Maddie Wells liked the changes that have already been made and mentioned that the long-term plans would make it easier to ride her bike in the Forsyth area.

“It’s nice to have a designated spot. I feel safer,” Wells said.

Senior Danica Yu, Student Union executive advisor for sustainability, hoped that the changes would encourage more students to ride bikes rather than drive to campus.

“These are cool new features that make [the] biker-to-pedestrian interface safer and a lot more pleasant. They make biking a much more approachable alternative to driving than before,” Yu said.

Drivers who live in the Lofts are one group being encouraged to use alternative transportation more often. Because of Washington University’s parking congestion, residents of the Lofts must purchase a permit that has limited access to on-campus parking, which upset many students assigned to live there.

“From my perspective, this has a neat silver lining because there’s good public transportation, so it teaches students to use the bus and engage with the public, or walk and bike to incorporate fitness into their everyday life. These are real-world skills,” Andrew Heaslet, Washington University’s alternative transportation coordinator, said.

Junior and Lofts resident Marina Walters, however, said she prefers walking to public transportation because it allows her to keep her own schedule instead of planning around the bus.

“I walk because it’s not far, so why not?” Walters said.

The Occasional Parking Program, which allows University community members who do not live on campus to purchase daily parking permits at a discount, has seen an increase over the past year. At this time last year, only 270 people had signed up for the program; right now, 435 people participate, marking a 61-percent increase.

Parking & Transportation Service’s upcoming plans include monitoring path use and traffic flow to determine if additional markings are needed, according to Heaslet. Regarding parking, planned new engineering buildings will replace much of the parking space on the west side of campus. To accommodate the Danforth Campus’s parking needs with these spaces disappearing, long-term plans have been made to build a garage under Brookings Hall. A date for these changes has not yet been released.