With game day on the horizon, many students will spend their Friday night positioning themselves for Saturday’s festivities, because when it comes to football season, even the rookie tailgater knows that campus can and should only be navigated on foot.
But in an effort to solve traffic problems before close to 100,000 fans descend on campus with cars, busses, RVs, grills, tents and more, the athletic parking department has reorganized the way people will find that sweet tailgating spot on game day.
When fans arrive this weekend, they will discover that parking lots on campus have new names. The lots are now organized by a numerical system instead of an alphabetical system, according to Gary Graham, director of Parking and Transportation Services.
Graham said the change was implemented because there were no more letters left to label the parking lots and because the numbering system is more organized.
“It will help us better control the directional flow of traffic,” Graham said.
With this system, the campus is divided into quadrants by 100s, 200s, 300s and 400s in relation to Tiger Stadium, Graham said.
The parking quadrants will not affect current parking permit locations. Only the names of the lots have changed.
On Saturday, fans will also notice new game day parking lot signage across campus. The new signs have a uniform design and are all gold in color. In a news release the University asked that fans “Follow the Gold,” meaning these gold signs, to find their parking.
Additionally, the University launched a new tool designed to alleviate pregame traffic this season.
By logging on to LSUsports.net/parking and clicking on “Driving Directions to LSU Venues” then “Get Graphical Directions to Parking Lots,” fans can select the parking lot they wish to park in and their inbound direction on Interstate 10. A suggested access route will then be provided based on pregame traffic restrictions.
Parking at the Union Square Parking Garage is also open to game day parking for individual games through advance purchase at LSUtix.net.
Michael Bonnette, the University’s sports information director, said fans should arrive early and plan ahead because of the changes around campus.
Not only will things look different to many fans on game day, Tiger Stadium will also sound different.
“We have a new sound system that people are going to be really impressed with,” Bonnette said.
Because the scoreboard in the south endzone was removed for the expansion, a new sound system had to be incorporated into the north endzone scoreboard.

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Angela Major

The parking system for home football games has changed since last season.