They’re Baaaack
Move-in week: returning students=closed streets
Daylight is ebbing slightly earlier. The mercury is feeling a tad autumnal of late. And Labor Day is around the corner. So you know it’s that time of year again…
Move-in.
Today kicks off a trunk-lugging, patience-taxing, street-closing, automotive-needle-threading week of controlled frenzy as BU welcomes students to the new academic year. More than 11,460 undergraduates and grad students will be matched with dormitory beds, with a small overflow finding 60 beds off-campus. And with the Red Sox playing home games on two move-in days against, of all rivals, the hated Yankees, the Boston University Police Department (BUPD) says its busiest time of year will be even more hectic than usual.
“When the Sox are in town, it just doubles the traffic,” says BUPD Sgt. Larry Manning. Boston police will help their University counterparts guide motorists in the most congested campus areas.
Bay State Road, Harry Agganis Way, and Babcock, Ashford, and St. Mary’s Streets are the main thoroughfares affected by closings to all but arriving students during Move-in. (See graphic above.) Tomorrow, August 30, is the one day this week not scheduled for move-in, and street closings don’t apply. Otherwise, from today through Sunday, starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m., Babcock closes from Gardner Street to Ashford Street, Bay State Road closes from Beacon Street to Granby Street, and St. Mary’s northbound closes from the Buswell Street intersection.
On Saturday, September 3, Harry Agganis Way will be one-way only, northbound, from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. On Sunday, September 4, Matriculation day, Harry Agganis closes between noon and 6 p.m. And on Labor Day, September 5, Ashford closes from Babcock to Malvern between 8 a.m. and noon.
Drivers should also note that during this week, Deerfield Street will be open but “very congested,” warns BUPD Capt. Robert Molloy. That’s because construction trucks hauling materials for the new Center for Student Services at 100 Bay State Road will be queuing up on Deerfield since Bay State Road will be closed.
Parking information for the week is available here.
Move-in week has its own peculiar rhythm. Marc Robillard, director of housing, says that today is jokingly dubbed “double secret move-in” because it’s for two specially approved groups—students who’ve been at BU during the summer for jobs, athletic practice, or other reasons; and freshmen participating in the First Year Student Outreach Project (FYSOP), coming to campus early for study and community service in greater Boston. But with travel along the east coast interrupted Sunday by Hurricane Irene, Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore urged students in an online message last week to put safety above punctuality and “not try to ‘beat’ the storm to get here. We will delay the beginning of FYSOP as needed. We understand flights may be delayed, and we will coordinate our airport pickups appropriately.” Wednesday, the first regular move-in day for all students, and Saturday, the main move-in day for freshmen, will be the busiest days of the week, with the heaviest rush both days typically between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Robillard says late-arriving freshmen Sunday need to be moved in by noon in order to attend the Matriculation ceremony at 1:30 p.m. at Agganis Arena.
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