Western Carolina University’s police department will implement a special traffic flow plan on campus Saturday, May 9, to deal with the large number of visitors expected to attend the university’s undergraduate commencement, which is scheduled for 2 p.m. that day.

About 830 students will be participating in the undergraduate commencement at WCU’s Ramsey Regional Activity Center, with their families and friends expected to fill the facility close to its capacity of 8,000.

Many of the commencement attendees will drive to campus via N.C. 107 from Sylva, and those motorists are urged to tune their radios to 1620 on the AM dial to hear special traffic directions as they enter the Sylva area, said Tammy Hagberg, sergeant with the university Police Department.

Visitors driving to the WCU campus on N.C. 107 from Sylva will have the option of turning left onto Old Cullowhee Road (State Road 1002) to access campus from the east, or continuing on N.C. 107 to reach the main entrance. Only one lane of traffic will enter campus at the main entrance. Those visitors will be directed to the right until all parking lots near the Ramsey Center are filled. At that point, traffic entering the main entrance will be directed to the left to parking lots on the north side of campus, Hagberg said.

Visitors who access campus on Old Cullowhee Road are asked to use the same route when they leave campus after the ceremony.

The entrance to campus at the intersection of N.C. 107 and Forest Hills Road will be closed to incoming traffic before and after commencement, Hagberg said.

Vehicles displaying a state-issued permit for disabled parking should enter at the main campus entrance on N.C. 107. Those vehicles will be allowed to enter the immediate Ramsey Center area via Catamount Road and drop off disabled visitors on the east side of the Ramsey Center.

Five WCU CatTran buses will be running during the day to transport visitors between the Ramsey Center and outlying parking lots.

Local motorists who are just passing through the area around WCU prior to the Saturday commencement should avoid the main entrance on Highway 107, Hagberg said. Non-commencement traffic that does enter the main campus entrance should exit out the left side of the traffic circle onto Memorial Drive, she said.

Some 350 WCU students will be participating in a commencement ceremony scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday, May 8. The traffic pattern will not be altered for that event, Hagberg said.

For more information about traffic patterns for the May 9 commencement, contact Hagberg at (828) 227-7301 or download the traffic route map (PDF).

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Last modified: Friday, May 8, 2009