The University’s first parking garage — which will be located on Raphael Semmes between Highland Road and East Campus Apartments — was supposed to start construction this year. But construction was delayed because of rising interest rates in a faltering economy, said Gary Graham, director of Parking, Traffic and Transportation at LSU.Graham said construction on the garage should begin near the end of the spring 2010 semester.”It was supposed to have been started by the fall,” Graham said. “Hopefully, we are looking at next March or April if the interest rates drop.”The garage will be either four or five levels, according to Graham. Approximately 1/4 of the spots will be student parking, 1/4 for faculty and staff and 1/2 for visitors.The major reason for the location of the garage is its proximity to the $60 million renovation to the Student Union.The other reason is the lack of convenient parking on the east side of campus.Graham said parking hasn’t been an issue on that side of campus because of construction on the Laville dorms, but there may be a crunch for parking in three years when the dorms are all back in service.Graham added the garage will cost between $17-19 million and will be coupled with a new book store that will raise the total construction price to about $30 million. There will be about 752 spaces in the garage, meaning each spot will cost about $24,000.The University has lagged behind other schools in building a garage — LSU, along with Mississippi State University, is one of two schools in the Southeastern Conference without one. The University of Florida has 13 parking garages with a total of slightly more than 9,000 spaces, according to Ron Fuller, assistant director for transportation and parking at Florida.With an enrollment of more than 50,000 students and only 24,000 spots available on campus, Fuller said Florida needs the garages.LSU has 23,000 spots in total and an undergraduate enrollment of under 30,000. There were 29,000 tags sold for the upcoming semester, but that number includes night parking and other parking, according to Graham.The University of Alabama has 18,235 spots on campus with an enrollment of 27,000, according to Ronnie Robertson, director of parking services at Alabama.  And Mississippi State has 13,295 spots with an enrollment of around 19,000, according to Mike Harris, director of parking services at Mississippi State.LSU hasn’t had the need for a garage yet, as there are enough spots on and right off campus for students, faculty, staff and visitors, according to Graham.Graham said the lots are never completely full.”Not everyone has class on the same days and not all the faculty and staff is here at the same time,” Graham said. “People are coming and going.”The new bus system should also help mitigate the need for more parking, he added.—-Contact Andy Schwehm at [email protected]