March 21, 2016
To: UT Students, Faculty, and Staff
From: Chris Cimino, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration
Subject: Improving Accessible Parking on Campus
As we continue to improve accessibility across our campus, parking policy revisions to help ensure availability of accessible parking for students, faculty, staff, and visitors who need it will be implemented beginning July 1, 2016. Enforcement of the policy revisions begins at the beginning of the next permit year starting August 1, 2016.
The revisions are in response to comments and complaints from faculty, staff, students, and visitors who experience difficulty in finding available accessible spaces. Enforcement violation numbers corroborate the significant impact to accessible drivers. Approximately 75 percent of all accessible violations issued the last 3 years were to individuals with no placard.
A subcommittee chaired by Christopher Pionke, associate professor in the College of Engineering, researched options, recommended and proposed these changes of policy to the Traffic and Parking Authority (TPA), where they were adopted for implementation by Parking and Transit Services.
The revised policy requires vehicles operated by students, faculty, and staff who need accessible parking to purchase and display a dual registration, which includes a valid state-issued handicap accessible placard or license plate and a UT-issued accessible permit. Cost is determined upon status within the university (i.e., student commuter, student non-commuter, or staff). The dual registration requirement aims to greatly reduce misuse of the accessible parking spaces. All vehicles displaying dual registration may still park in any accessible space as well as any unreserved, non-UT vehicle space.
UT Parking & Transit Services will conduct a comprehensive information and outreach campaign to ensure all staff, faculty, students, and visitors are well informed about what they need to do regarding application procedures and permit requirements in advance. Our efforts will also include installation of additional signs on all accessible spaces prior to August 1.
For more information about the policy, including accessible parking regulations for visitors, visit http://parking.utk.edu/permits/#accessible-parking.
For the revised regulation for students, staff and faculty, click here.
For the revised regulation for visitors, click here.