Bright blue paint now indicates the row of handicap parking spots in the spill lot across from Alex Box Stadium. These fresh marks appear each year at the start of LSU baseball season, but they may have confused many students.
The Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation first created handicap spaces near Alex Box Stadium about four or five years ago during the spring, said Director Gary Graham. These spaces were set up after discussions with attorneys because of the demand for handicap parking for LSU baseball games.
The spaces are not available to be non-handicap during the day and handicap at night, because there are both mid-week games and weekend games, Graham said. Students cannot park in these spots for class because of the overlap from student night classes and other activities and the need for handicap baseball parking in the early evening.
Commuter students parking in these lots said they have not noticed a significant lack of parking spaces.
Michael Benton, a sophomore studying German, said he would sooner park in the grass than in a handicap spot, but he has not had trouble finding a parking spot in the spill lots.
“Parking availability depends on the time of the day that you try to park,” said marketing sophomore Gary Van Vrancken. “I think that those spots are necessary, because it’s a long walk from those parking lots to campus and people who are handicapped should have those spots for class and for the games.”
Most students said the Tiger Stadium expansion project was the biggest parking inconvenience, and the loss of parking spots in that lot has forced them to park even farther away from campus.
“We have not run out of spaces in Alex Box even with the handicap spaces there,” Graham said. “The 10 or so in the Nicholson lot I don’t really see as having that much impact on parking supply one way or the other, since, again, Alex Box has plenty.”
Graham said the handicap spots will return to regular student parking for the summer and fall after the baseball season is complete.