During a period of change and expansion of campus infrastructure, complaints about parking will always persist, said Gary Graham, director of University Parking, Traffic and Transportation.
Graham said in spite of ongoing construction and events throughout a vast campus, “there is plenty of parking, it’s just a matter of being aware of the
situation.”
Students have voiced their feelings regarding the inconvenience and congestion of parking around campus.
Emily Sullivan, interdisciplinary studies sophomore, said she knows students who never use commuter lots because of their location. Riding a bike or parking off campus can be more feasible because commuter lots are on the outskirts of campus, away from classes, she said.
Union Square Parking Garage, complete in March of 2013 for $22.5 million, contains nearly 300 spaces specified for student commuters in the heart of
campus, Graham said.
“A lot of students still don’t know that it is open for them.”
The cost for a student commuter to park in the garage for one year is $330, Graham said. A regular student parking permit costs $165 for one year.
To some students, these figures are too high.
Julia Castro, finance sophomore, said parking for the year is not affordable, especially when considering most lots are inconveniently located.
Resident parking comes with some setbacks as well, Castro said. When living at South Hall last year, Castro said she often could not park in the North PMAC lot, the lot closest to her dorm, because of athletic events at the PMAC or Carl Maddox Field House.
“We paid for that space. We had a pass just for that space,” Castro said.
The North PMAC lot was built as a commuter lot often used for athletic events,
Graham said. The Residential College, which includes South Hall, was built over a portion of the lot. What remained became resident parking. Therefore Parking, Traffic and Transportation has a prior obligation to athletes and fans.
Congested parking on campus varies from place to place, but students said the UREC and sorority houses are particularly crowded.
This area, composed of the UREC “X” lot, available to all passes, and the Greek lot, available to those with the appropriate parking pass, is “always full,” Castro said.
The University is not subject to the city regulation requiring one parking space for every 100 square feet of building space, said Sherif Ishak, civil engineering undergraduate program coordinator. This could explain the crowds.
The UREC expansion slated to begin this summer will add 400 parking spaces, which should help the situation, Graham said. Furthermore, the four-way stop in front of the University Press Building and the Zeta Tau Alpha house has helped control traffic in the back of the Greek lot.
Ishak said issues could arise with parking at Patrick F. Taylor during its expansion. The expansion will make faculty parking on the west side of the building unavailable. This will push faculty to the lot on Nicholson Extension, where many commuting students currently park.
“Parking is certainly an issue and should be addressed by the
University,” Ishak said.

Gallery • 3 Photos

Lauren Duhon

Overcrowded parking near the UREC causes problems for students and Greek residents.