University Police and Parking Services are aware of the increasing traffic dilemma on the south extension of University Circle Drive and its entrance adjacent to the NIU parking deck. This is roughly the area the Huskie Bus loop uses to drop students off near DuSable and Cole halls.

Fixing the increasingly troublesome intersection may take some time, said University Police Lt. Matt Kiederlen.

“We are aware that there is a problem,” Kiederlen said. “We have officers out there conducting surveys, literally counting cars and finding out what exactly is going on out there.”

The issues contributing to the congestion include the high volume of vehicles coming in and out of both the parking garage and the extension drive and some drivers being unaware the extension drive is a parking lot.

“It is understandable how people could confuse the old University Circle Drive extension to the south as being a street,” said Norm Jenkins, campus parking committee member. “In reality, however, that area is a parking lot and should be viewed as such.”

Viewing an area as a parking lot means a 10 mph speed limit will also be enforced.

“Sometimes, just having more officers in the area helps to relieve some of the congestion and alleviate part of the problem,” Kiederlen said. “We need to find out if it’s an actual traffic problem with the number of cars in the area or if it’s a speeding issue.”

To address speeding, Parking Services plans on adding signs to bring to light the speed limit in the parking and drop-off area, Jenkins said.

“It’s not bad all the time,” said Breanna Bellman, a senior biochemistry commuter student. “But that doesn’t mean they have to wait for it to get bad before fixing the problem.”

Neither UP nor DeKalb police have any record of accidents due to traffic in the intersection.

“It may take some time to formulate a permanent answer,” Kiederlen said. “We have to be realistic in that it may take more time than we actually want it to take. But officers often have to address their other duties which pulls them away from this.”

University Parking is currently conducting surveys in “another half-dozen places on campus,” Kiederlen said. Some of those include Annie Glidden Road, Gilbert Drive and Garden Road.