There is construction underway all across the University’s campus. | Emily Chambers/The Daily Cougar
At a combined estimated cost of $46 million, the stadium and Lot 1A parking garages will increase the number of parking spaces available to students.
Student parking will increase by 19 percent with about 3,000 new parking spaces generated dedicated solely to students, said Director of Parking and Transportation Bob Browand.
There will be 4,000 new spaces added to the overall inventory. About 2,300 of those spots will be from the stadium parking garage, while around 1,700 of them will come from the Lot 1A garage.
The spaces in the estimated $26 million stadium parking garage will be available for the 2012-2013 student parking registration. There will also be a retail section in the new garage that will open in the fall semester.
“There’s going to be three things — a convenience store, a Taco Cabana and a spirit store,” said Principal Project Manager John Posch.
“(The spirit store will) have (UH spirit items) and, at some times during the year, textbooks as well.”
Construction on the estimated $20 million Lot 1A garage will begin this summer and is set to open to students in the fall 2013 semester.
No street closures are expected because of the construction, but the cut-through from Calhoun Road to Entrance 4 will be closed. Some impact on traffic is anticipated on Calhoun Road, from where the construction traffic will enter the site, Posch said.
“We will work with the construction team to have larger deliveries made during non-peak times,” Browand said.
“Any concrete pours will be performed early morning, starting as early as 3 a.m., so they will not conflict with morning traffic.”
Lot 1A currently hosts two lots, one of which is a residential lot designated for students living in the Moody Towers or Cougar Village residence halls. Parking and Transportation plans to oversell less to accommodate these students in the new garage.
“All parking will be on a first-come, first-serve basis, but we will lower our oversell ratio to compensate for residential parking habits,” Browand said.
“Our goal is to never turn away a garage-assigned parker, and, aside from a few times early in the fall semester at the Welcome Center garage, we have achieved that goal.”
Students who currently have a parking spot in Lot 1A can sign up for one of the alternative parking areas previously provided for those students affected by the stadium parking garage construction.
These include lots on Leek Street, at the intramural fields and a temporary lot at Bayou Oaks, Browand said.
“We developed (about 700 spots) last year for the stadium garage project, which will be available during this project,” Browand said.
“There is also the option to park at ERP (Energy Research Park). Shuttle service to ERP was increased during the stadium garage construction, and it will remain the same during the Garage 1A construction.”
How about getting rid of that ugly building across from Cemo that looks like an abandoned warehouse? I can’t tell you how many employers have looked at that building and asked me why it’s there!
I guarantee you, since UH increased parking by 4,000 they will admit/accept 8,000 more students. The parking situation will still be an issue and students will have to continue to struggle with either finding parking and spending hours roaming around the lot OR fork over an arm and a leg for a garage spot.
I received both an undergraduate and graduate degree from U of H from 1999 through 2005. Back in my day parking for a semester cost $90 or so and if you had a 10 am class, you better made sure to get there at 8:30 am or you were going to be late. You had no chance of getting a parking spot near Roberts Stadium and at the end would have to resort to parking on a distant economy lot and catch the bus.
You’d think the professors would be understanding given that this was a commuter school in the 4th largest city that lacks real public transportation, but they weren’t and they’d still mock you and not let you take a test if you were late. (and they wonder why I don’t donate a penny to the alumni association).
At least back then we knew what we were dealing with – it was a free for all. I was recently on campus to see what was new and now it’s impossible to know what the hell is going on. Do you need a special garage pass? Is it good at any garage? Can you have a garage pass and park in a regular lot? Can you do the opposite?
On the surface it looks like they’re trying to address the problem, but the reality is I bet your parking passes aren’t $90 anymore and I bet tuition is much higher than the what the rate of inflation would have it. So good luck Cougars.
All I read was bitching, bitching, and more bitching. How can you not understand the parking pass deal? You buy a welcome center garage pass, you park at the wc; not in parking lot 16a or 1a. You buy a east garage parking pass, you park in the east garage. You buy a parking pass for a regular lot, you park at the regular lot. Students love to complain about how they cant afford to spend 50 or 100 bucks extra for parking because they already pay enough out of pocket for school but yet on fb or twitter there they are posting pics of themselves at the club with drinks in their hand and putting the receipt on how much they spent on alcohol or pics of them buying new macs, or my favorite: spontaneous road trips to Austin to get drunk on 6th street.
It would've been much cheaper to encourage students to use carpooling, living on/near campus, using METRO, or getting more Friday/online classes rather than building more parking spaces. Sigh.
Because those of us who commute from a suburb have access to METRO lines. Yeah. Makes sense.
But not all can do those things. And you would think that with traffic that would convince others to use tjose options.
Imagine if they hired $46 million dollars worth of professors, or performed $46 million dollars worth of renovations to our outmoded and unsafe facilities.
I think the new garage is great and all… but how much is it going to cost to get a permit to park there?? Somewhere shy of $400? I’m a broke college student, I can’t afford that!
HOW ABOUT SOME FREE PARKING! LIKE THE HOSPITAL OR THE MALL.