The University of Wollongong hopes to build a new northern entry to its main Gwynneville campus, with a direct interchange off Mount Ousley featuring in its draft campus master plan.
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The proposed new access route, which is included in the Roads and Maritime Services recently released preferred model for the Mt Ousley upgrade, would offer another egress point to the burgeoning campus, alleviating traffic congestion at the University Avenue off-ramp.
The university’s 20-year master plan, unveiled last week in draft for public comment, proposes the campus be divided into six precincts and include two new multi-deck car parks and car park under the hockey fields.
Several new faculty buildings would be constructed under the plan, as would a central “university square” outside the existing library, plus more on-campus student accommodation.
The plan is the culmination of six months worth of work by uni consultants plus an initial round of community consultation, which took place earlier this year.
Among the key ‘themes’ identified in consultation was valuing campus “green space”, the relationship between the natural and built environment, world-class facilities and services, infrastructure for a range of weather conditions, public transport and the connection between the campus, community and the CBD.
While the plan is light on detail, mainly consisting of ‘discussion points, it appears most people want to see the university ‘rise’ quite literally, with the plans revealing future buildings are likely to be “four or five storeys”.
However, Gwynneville community campaigner Bess Moylan said concerns remained about the impact of off-campus parking on the surrounding community.
In a response to the plan, Ms Moylan pointed to several generalisations in the wording of the proposal and asked for more details to be released publicly.
In particular, she challenged the suggestion that more students living on campus would result in less parking requirements.
“UOW should stop stating this until it can be demonstrated that students coming from regional areas are electing not to bring their cars to campus,” she wrote.
“It is true that shuttle buses, walking, and cycles is available for UOW residents, but they need to get to Wollongong first.”
Feedback on the draft plan will be open until midnight July 3 and will be used to inform the final master plan.
