Parking near the UREC saw changes Monday that will continue for the next 18 to 24 months, said senior director of the Office of Parking and Transportation Jeff Campbell.
Students and faculty with parking passes received an email Monday detailing the extent of the changes around the UREC facility.
The C lot near the UREC for University relations staff as well as two parking lots on the west side for UREC faculty will be taken offline to make space for arriving building materials. The X lot on the east corner will be converted into a C lot for both types of faculty.
“They’ll have to come in off of Dalrymple [Drive] and come up West Lakeshore [Drive] from the alumni center end,” Campbell said. “And we had to create a way for them to get in.”
Campbell said now that construction is underway, materials will arrive at the UREC in large quantities. He expects 18 big rigs and multiple concrete trucks that are too heavy to cross bridges on the west side of the facility.
“Neither of those [bridges] are rated for the kind of weight that these 18-wheelers are going to be bringing in,” Campbell said.
Campbell said parking will also be closed along the fence near the River Road field complex. Because he expects deliveries will come in multiples, trucks will be staged so that they do not back up traffic on West Lakeshore Drive.
“It’s not going to be a fun area to be parking in or traveling for the next 18 to 24 months,” Campbell said. “But that’s the price we pay for improvements to a UREC that the students have requested and want to improve.”
While Campbell said he realizes some students and faculty are unhappy, the University is trying to balance what is best for the project and everyone involved.
“There’s always a little bit of give and take on new facilities, some construction headaches,” Campbell said. “But in the long run things will go back to normal.”