UTD Parking

Meant to post this earlier in the week, but kept forgetting...

Open question to any of you civil engineers out there...

If LHGCL is going to utilize all 10 fields at UTD for a full slate of games on a given day, what makes more sense from a parking/traffic flow standpoint...

Have all 10 fields using the same start times for games, or, stagger the game start times for the North fields (#1-#6) by 45 minutes from the South fields (#7-#10)?

Last weekend was an absolute mess with 10 games worth of families all showing up 45 minutes before their scheduled game time, and then 10 games worth of families all trying to leave at the exact same time 45 minutes later.

Would it be better if those 10 games worth of families were roughly split 50/50 between arriving/departing families? (i.e. the families showing up 45 minutes before their game started on the South fields would be showing up at the same time the North field families would be leaving from their game that just finished, and vice versa, every 45 minutes).

You are way more PC than I would have been on this question. It is absolutely horrible. The parking sucks.


And yes I like your idea of staggering the game start times AND making a drop off spot.

The hubby was saying the same thing last weekend but I didn't think it was all that bad. Of course he doesn't spend an hour of his day, five days a week, fighting three different schools pick up lines.  

bwgophers wrote:Meant to post this earlier in the week, but kept forgetting...

Open question to any of you civil engineers out there...

If LHGCL is going to utilize all 10 fields at UTD for a full slate of games on a given day, what makes more sense from a parking/traffic flow standpoint...

Have all 10 fields using the same start times for games, or, stagger the game start times for the North fields (#1-#6) by 45 minutes from the South fields (#7-#10)?

Last weekend was an absolute mess with 10 games worth of families all showing up 45 minutes before their scheduled game time, and then 10 games worth of families all trying to leave at the exact same time 45 minutes later.

Would it be better if those 10 games worth of families were roughly split 50/50 between arriving/departing families?  (i.e. the families showing up 45 minutes before their game started on the South fields would be showing up at the same time the North field families would be leaving from their game that just finished, and vice versa, every 45 minutes).

You are just talking craziness now ... Makes too much sense!    

Don't want to turn this thread into a rant, but it was taking some of our parents who arrived late in the 45-minute warm up window 20 minutes to find a parking space. Also, don't ever park in the far SE corner of the parking lot. It took me 25 minutes to exit to Campbell after the game.

After re-reading my initial post (and admitting that I may have a penchant for sarcasm in some of my posts), I want to be clear that my question here is sincere.

On the surface, it would seem to me that staggering the field start times would alleviate some of the parking/traffic flow issues, but I by no means have any expertise in this area.  I could also see where, the 50/50 mixture of people trying to find parking spaces at the same time people are exiting could be no better, or possibly even worse than the current situation.

I've got to imagine there is a txsoccer.net lurker out there who is a civil engineer and has at least studied traffic flow problems that could comment if my suggestion has any real merit.

I think the easiest solution would have been to keep the access road to/from Campbell Road, providing two entrances and exits to the fields.

Staggering start times could be a solution, but I think it would need to be done in 15-20 intervals to truly make a difference. Say fields #2 & 7 start at 8am, fields #3 & 8 start at 8:20, fields #4 & 9 starts at 8:40, etc....

Excellent ideas about staggered schedule if they could deal with the inefficieny it would create in scheduling refs. It might also make it harder to maximize the time that each field is available each day.

Took me 13 minutes to get out of utd parking lot recently- that was the worst I have experienced.

Possibly, it might help if they could open both access roads, but have them be one-way, entering off of Campbell and exiting on the west side (sorry I can't remember the name of the road).

intrinsic wrote:Excellent ideas about staggered schedule if they could deal with the inefficieny it would create in scheduling refs. It might also make it harder to maximize the time that each field is available each day.

Took me 13 minutes to get out of utd parking lot recently- that was the worst I have experienced.

That's why I suggested the single 45 minute stagger between the North fields and South fields. It would then be no different from staging games at separate 4 field and 6 field complex, and would only lengthen the day by 45 minutes total.

Having single fields staggered by 15-20 minutes would probably be the best from a traffic flow perspective, but I agree the scheduling logistics of doing that would be much harder.

skippy is right, if they had an exit road and an entry road, most of this would be solved. using one road to get in and out is ridiculous

btw gophers, they dont give a sh!t, thats why they dont do what you suggest...

FYI....you can park in the parking lot off Avenue A and Waterview.

I have a suggestion. Maybe someone at LHGCL could negotiate better fields for the girls like FCD or Richland College. That might help ease some of the traffic at UTD.

RightWingDad wrote:I have a suggestion. Maybe someone at LHGCL could negotiate better fields for the girls like FCD or Richland College. That might help ease some of the traffic at UTD.

Yes, the field conditions are sad considering the quality of competition LH represents.

Yes, it's sad LH plays second fiddle to the Boys leagues, which btw only play on the best fields, FCD, Richland, etc. LH directors says that's just the way it is. Maybe some of our LH directors might have a future in the powerless Republican House ;-)

The girls used to play at the Pizza Hut Park / FCD complex.. it was awesome. Then when they had to rework a bunch of the fields they offered 2 fields to the Boys League, and 2 fields to the girls. The Lake Highlands folks discussed it and ended up saying "thats too much of a hassle to schedule only two fields there, we will give our two over to the Boys, so they can have four." A nice gesture, but it probably would have been smart to keep their foot in the door for when all the other fields came back online... but at that time all the UTD fields were actually nice, and Railroad was fittnuh come open so they thought it was good to go....

hindsight and all that stuff

Slakemoth wrote:The girls used to play at the Pizza Hut Park / FCD complex.. it was awesome. Then when they had to rework a bunch of the fields they offered 2 fields to the Boys League, and 2 fields to the girls. The Lake Highlands folks discussed it and ended up saying "thats too much of a hassle to schedule only two fields there, we will give our two over to the Boys, so they can have four." A nice gesture, but it probably would have been smart to keep their foot in the door for when all the other fields came back online... but at that time all the UTD fields were actually nice, and Railroad was fittnuh come open so they thought it was good to go....

hindsight and all that stuff

As I recall, there was a bit more to the situation.  PHP was randomly taking fields out of service with little to no notice, leaving the league to scramble to find replacement fields and reschedule.  The relationship had already gotten pretty rocky with PHP, and they weren't the best partner at that point in time.  Don't know about now.  

The league invested a ton of money into UTD, which worked out pretty well for a while, until the last year or so when the condition of the upper complex became so poor.  Last time I was out there, and I admit its been several months, the upper complex was among the worst in the area.

ballhead wrote:

Slakemoth wrote:The girls used to play at the Pizza Hut Park / FCD complex.. it was awesome. Then when they had to rework a bunch of the fields they offered 2 fields to the Boys League, and 2 fields to the girls. The Lake Highlands folks discussed it and ended up saying "thats too much of a hassle to schedule only two fields there, we will give our two over to the Boys, so they can have four." A nice gesture, but it probably would have been smart to keep their foot in the door for when all the other fields came back online... but at that time all the UTD fields were actually nice, and Railroad was fittnuh come open so they thought it was good to go....

hindsight and all that stuff

As I recall, there was a bit more to the situation.  PHP was randomly taking fields out of service with little to no notice, leaving the league to scramble to find replacement fields and reschedule.  The relationship had already gotten pretty rocky with PHP, and they weren't the best partner at that point in time.  Don't know about now.  

The league invested a ton of money into UTD, which worked out pretty well for a while, until the last year or so when the condition of the upper complex became so poor.  Last time I was out there, and I admit its been several months, the upper complex was among the worst in the area.

It still is in bad shape. They just put in new walkways so hopefully a little love and rehab is in the works for the playing surfaces as well now that the new fields are complete. The upper complex has been a workhorse location and has seen a lot of use over the years.