Basic math reveals a glaring parking problem for residents on LSU’s east side of campus.
At full capacity, 3,387 students occupy the dorms and apartments east of Highland Road, said Jay High, Residential Life’s associate director of communication and development.
But for more than 3,000 students, there are barely 2,000 residential spots available on the east side of campus as of today, according to figures provided by the Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation.
“It’s a case of parking further out than you want to and further than we want you to,” said Gary Graham, director of Parking, Traffic and Transportation. “We have plenty of parking options on the west side of campus. [But] unless we take something away from commuter or Greek students, then that’s the only option. It’d be solving one problem and starting another.”
Not every student who lives on campus buys a residential parking permit. But every student has the option, which unleashes the potential for a localized parking deficit of more than 1,000 spots.
“There’s actually plenty of spaces [on campus as a whole],” High said. “They’re just not as close as we’d like them to be.”
The closure of almost 100 spots in the horseshoe lot because of construction on Annie Boyd Hall is only exacerbating the problem.
“It’s impossible to find a legal spot [anywhere close],” said chemistry freshman Henry Molony, an Evangeline Hall resident. “It’s either the law center or a frat house. It’s completely impractical.”
Many residents end up parking in the University Student Recreational Complex lots as the closest available option, especially if they get back to campus late at night.
“I don’t even bother looking around the [East Campus Apartment] lots,” said political science junior Michael Dubose, who lives in ECA and gets off work at 2 a.m.
“I drove around West and East Laville, then the East Campus [Apartment] lot and then I made the loop again,” said architecture freshman Gabrielle Pearce. “It took me a good 15, 20 minutes.”
The parking garage at the corner of Highland Road and Raphael Semmes Road will provide about 190 residential spots, but it won’t open until mid-October at the earliest, Graham said.
“When you renovate, there are some sacrifices you make at that time,” High said.
Although the X lots near the UREC currently serve as an overflow valve for many residents, possible plans to install parking meters could clamp up that supply in the coming years.
Graham said it would not happen this year, but that “everything is open for discussion” to help fund the construction of new lots as soon as fall 2013.
“It’s being discussed because we have to build more parking out there,” he said.
