Visitors should brace
for weekend traffic zoo
By Paula Lavigne
Staff Reporter
Football fans and State Fair visi
tors in Lincoln this weekend may find
their usual routes under construction,
but local officials said they were ready
to handle the challenge.
Lincoln Police Capt. Jim Peschong
said Lincoln parking problems and
traffic congestion would be consider
ably heavier because of Saturday’s
1:30 p.m. Comhusker season opener
and the Nebraska State Fair, which
starts today.
Capt. Doug Ahlberg of the Lincoln
police traffic safety unit said the two
events had taken place on the same
weekend for the past several years,
but road construction this year would
cause problems.
Construction on the 10th Street
viaduct has taken away one route to
the events, he said.
“Once you take away a major ar
tery like 10th Street, with the bridge
being tom up, it will not allow any
northbound traffic into the west side,"
Ahlberg said. “They won’t have any
where to go.”
To avoid the traffic, Peschong ad
vised travelers from western Nebras
ka to exit Interstate 80 before the
downtown Lincoln exits.
Peschong encouraged travelers
from northern and eastern Nebraska
to use the Waverly exit to ease the
traffic flow.
State Fair visitors should enter the
fairgrounds directly on 27th Street
and State Fair Park Drive, he said.
People attending both events, he said,
can ride the shuttle bus between the
fairgrounds and the stadium through
out the day.
Peschong said shuttle buses would
alleviate some congestion and park
ing problems around both events.
Buses run from parking lots at South
east Community College, 27th and
Oupwtet »rcett,Holmc»L«ke«ndtfw
‘it’sgoing to be a lot more compli
cated,” Ahlberg said. “During a foot
ball game, Memorial Stadium is the
third largest city in the state of Ne
braska.”
Mike Cacak, UNL transportation
manager, said visitors should expect
the usual parking complications.
“You can only get so many people
in a given space. When it’s full, it’s
-44
It’s going to be a lot
more complicated.
During a football
game, Memorial
Stadium Is the third
largest city In the
state of Nebraska.
—Ahlberg
captain, Lincoln police traffic
safety unit
-tf -
full,” Cacak said. “It’s not that big of
a deal. It actually goes fairly smooth
and we have very few complaints.”
Cacak commended Lincoln’s ef
forts to make things go smoothly for
the weekend.
“The city is doing a lot of things to
alleviate the problem,” he said. ‘The
big challenge will be the flow of
traffic due to the construction.”
Peschong said the traffic and park
ing congestion would result from the
expected 76,000 Comhusker fans try
ing to get the parking spot closest to
Memorial Stadium.
“If people will take the time to look
at the maps, read the paper and check
the information offered to them, we
can minimize the problem,” Peschong
said. “If people feel ‘We’ve always
parked here and this is where we are
always going to park,’ then they be
come frustrated and traffic becomes
congested.
“Some of the roads they want to
take may not even exist anymore.”
Peschong said visitors might want
to take extra time before leaving Lin
coln to avoid the rush.
“People will not be able to get out
of Lincoln within an hour like they
usually do,” he said.
“I’d encourage people to do some
shopping," he said. “They shouldn’t
be in lUGh ■ hurry to get to Omit emr»."
The Lincoln police will double the
usual number of officers this weekend
to about 40 to combat the traffic con
gestion and cramped parking.
Even with these solutions,
Peschong said, congestion will be a
problem. But he said it was a problem
that could be controlled.
“We’ve developed traffic patterns
to get people in and wit,” Peschong
said. “I think we’re ready for it.”
Office aids distant students
Department offers
access, options
By Jan CaJinger
Staff Raportar
In a move to improve the way it
communicates with students studying
from afar, UNL’s Division of Con
tinuing Studies Wednesday launched
a new department.
James Sherwood, associate direc
tor of the new department of distance
education, said the department would
use University of Nebraska-Lincoln
resources, including television, satel
lite and mail, to educate students not
living in Lincoln.
Sherwood said the key words to
describe distance education are ac
cess and options.
“We try to provide greater access
to UNL,” he said. “The wav to do that
is to provide more options for students
who want to attend UNL. We extend
resources to students who can't phys
ically come to UNL.”
Sherwood said the department
would offer a wide variety of pro
grams, ranging from high school
classes to doctoral degrees.
Robert Simerly, dean of continu
ing education, said the department
was an efficient merger between the
academic telecommunication and in
dependent study departments.
“One of the main reasons (for the
merger) is that the technology in the
departments are rapidly moving to
gether,” he said.
“The purpose is to help extend the
resources of the university to promote
lifelong learning.”
Last year, the old departments had
400 programs, serving 25,000 stu
dents in 119 countries, Sherwood said.
“If patterns hold true, I would hope,s
over the next two years, that we'll
serve 50 to 60,000 students,” he said.
“We will certainly be in 115 coun
tries."
Monty McMahon, director of the
new department, said the merger
would make communication easier
between the department and interest
ed students.
“Both former departments were
involved in distance education," he
said. (<The merger puts them into one
department for better focus.”
McMahon said students wishing to
utilize the two former departments in
past years had difficulty reaching the
correct contacts.
“It provides a single point of con
tact for students who are interested,"
he said. “They know where to con
tact."
Simerly said the idea for the new
department came with the resignation
of the head of the academic telecom
munications department. After Marvin
Van Kekerix moved out of state, the
division decided to restructure the
distance education process.
“We took the opportunity to reor
ganize and develop the department,"
he said.
Simerly said he was optimistic
about the department’s potential.
“I think people are excited about
new opportunities," he said.
The department was officially
launched with a ceremony Wednes
day at the Nebraska Center for Con
tinuing Education, 33rd and Holdrege
streets.
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