Student parking woes are being answered in the form of a new parking garage slated to begin construction this summer.
The garage will be located near Robertson Stadium in what is now parking lot 15D, and will be the largest on campus. Construction is expected to take nine months and has a completion date of May 1, 2012.
While construction is going on, 1,100 spaces on lot 15D will be out of service, so students will need to plan ahead to make sure they can secure a parking space.
The stadium garage will feature 2,300 parking spaces, of which more than 1,400 will be designated for students, as well as a bookstore, convenience store and a customer service counter for Parking and Transportation services.
The garage will also have a designated visitors parking area.
“Garages let us get a common area where we can get (visitors) out of the student lots,” customer service manager Eric Holamon said. “And ultimately we’ll double the amount of student parking in this section (lot 15D).”
Finding a parking space has been one of the biggest complaints for students who commute to campus for classes.
Students have been known to sometimes search for over an hour to find a space, and the construction will make the search much more competitive.
“It’s tough, once we get this garage up and going, we’re going to be ahead of the curve,” Assistant Director of Parking Operations Paul Lozano said. “But we’ve got to go through these growing pains.”
Kinesiology senior Erika Jansson, who parks in lot 15D, is not looking forward to the construction, but is hoping that the new garage will reduce the time it takes to look for parking spaces.
“After the construction it will probably be able to hold more cars and people probably won’t get ticketed as much,” Jansson said.
In order to compensate for the loss of over 1,100 spaces while constructions is going on, PTS has opened an additional 500 spaces in UH Energy Research Park.
Students will be able to park and take the Eastwood / Energy Research Park bus line to campus where it stops in front of the University Center.
“It takes about 15 minutes, but it’s probably 45 minutes faster (than circling for a space),” Holamon said.
The Route 3 Robertson Bus Line that currently services the area where the garage will be stationed will be given an alternate route once the construction start date nears.
For students who don’t want to use the ERP, lot 16D, near Cullen and Elgin, will be expanded over the summer into a gravel lot, along with plans to construct temporary lots on Leek Street.
Metro is also offering students half-off on the Metro Q Fare Card for train and bus fares for full-time students.
Once construction is finished, students will have to purchase a garage-parking permit, but they will be guaranteed a space for the semester.
For more information about the stadium garage go to www.uh.edu/pts/parkstadium.htm or call the UH Parking and Transportation office at 713-743-1097.
I still think that once the light rail gets up and running there will eventually be a surplus of these parking spaces.