The campus of West Virginia University will soon spring to life as thousands of students and their parents converge on Morgantown and begin the process of moving into dorms, apartments and houses throughout the city.

For the 5,500 students living in the 14 residence halls at WVU , Friday Aug. 17 is move-in day which means a chance to get checked in and established in their new home away from home.

Its an exciting time for all of us to welcome back the students,said Corey Farris, director of WVU Housing and University Apartments.This year weve taken quite a few extra measures to help smooth out the move-in process and reduce the stress on the students, their families and the community at large.

Those changes include additional coordination between the WVU Department of Housing, WVU Department of Public Safety and the Morgantown Police Department to provide increased traffic and parking control over the weekend.

There are three main areas we focused our attention on,said Farris.Making sure that traffic flows smoothly at key intersections throughout town, providing plenty of parking spaces throughout town, and utilizing a proven process that helps families get their vehicles unloaded as quickly as possible.

Efforts to keep traffic flowing throughout town include the use of several officers from WVU DPS and MPD to help direct traffic on University Avenue, Willey Street, North High Street, Prospect Street and other key areas throughout town.

In addition, detailed directions to each residence hall have been mailed to each students home that will take them directly to their residence hall and avoid cross town traffic.

Instead of having families enter the south side of town and drive through the downtown area to get to Evansdale, weve provided directions that would route them through Star City,said Farris.By providing information with the most direct route, we can limit people driving all over town and keep them on the side they need to be on.

To aid with parking across campus, security officers will help keep major roadways clear of parked cars to ensure traffic and emergency vehicles can move smoothly. Farris has also made special parking accommodations in three city parking garages for students assigned to several of the downtown residence halls.

We have a great system in place for unloading each family very quickly once they pull up in front of a hall,said Farris.We have hundreds of student volunteerscalledhotshotsscattered throughout campus. As a family pulls up to a hall, the hotshots will swarm the vehicle, unload everything, get the belongings inside and get the driver sent off to a parking spot.

In order to maximize the limited space for unloading vehicles, families are asked to follow the assigned check-in times, drop off their items and then quickly park their vehicles to make room for others.

Several parking areas around each residence hall have been designated as short-term unloading zones only. Parking on Prospect Street from Wiley Street to University Avenue, and on North High Street from Wiley Street to Fife Street will be restricted to provide additional unloading areas near the halls.

Each student moving into a residence hall has been assigned a specific time of day to check in based on their attendance at New Student Orientation earlier in the summer. Those that attended New Student Orientation on or before June 15 should report to their hall between 8:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Those students that attended New Student Orientation after June 15 may check in between 12:30 p.m.-5 p.m. Students that arrive after 6 p.m. should report to the staff at the main desk of their assigned residence hall.

Weve got thousands of people moving in that day, so we just ask that folks bring lots of patience, a good sense of humor and a couple bottles of watersaid Farris.

He also suggests bringing a dolly or moving cart to help transport bulky items.

Farris estimates that during a typical move-in day, approximately 85 percent of the students are moved in by 2 p.m. As a result, WVU employees and community members are asked to avoid residence hall congestionespecially between the hours of 9 a.m.-3 p.m.