Last Thursday, USM’s home football game resulted in chaos due to parking.   

The parking lots across USM’s Hattiesburg campus were filled with cones to block out cars from parking in certain areas. Additionally, there were traffic directors designated in certain areas to guide cars.   

An employee of USM’s Parking and Transit Services, who was directing traffic before the game started, was in one of the busiest spots.  

“It’ll get better,” said the woman who was directing traffic. “This is one of the busiest spots because of the handicap area here. But I love working it, it is always good, and everybody is nice.”  

Although traffic seemed to calm down between 2-4 p.m., it became chaotic as the time grew closer to 5 p.m. The football game started at 6:30 p.m., so heavy traffic was to be expected. 

As the time for the football game to start grew nearer, more and more people began to arrive on campus.   

USM students that reside in McCarty Hall, Wilbur Hall, Hillcrest and Bolton Hall were instructed to move their vehicles. Most of the students moved their cars to the Hillcrest Gravel lot and the parking garage.   

Even though students were at liberty to move their vehicles to the parking garage, the parking garage was still open for visitors to park during the football game.   

However, this was challenging. By the time that all the resident’s hall students had parked their cars in the parking garage, there was minimum parking area for visitors.  

Within a matter of minutes, a yellow sign was placed in front of the parking garage with the words ‘LOT FULL’ on it.   

“It’s getting jammed packed, we got cars running in and out,” said Landon Scott, the traffic director that was in front of the parking garage. “I just had a car come out a while ago, and he said it was full up in there.”   

Some students believe that the parking arrangements for big events, such as USM’s most recent football game, should be better organized. For more information regarding USM’s parking, visit the Parking and Transits Services building on campus.