The first efforts have begun toward constructing a new parking structure approved last month by the Board of Trustees between Alpha Hall and the Bluff Apartments. For now, one row of parking spaces has been blocked off, but a total temporary loss of 288 parking spaces is expected before the process concludes in April 2014.
An area behind Alpha has been fenced off for the relocation of electric and water utilities for the first phase of construction.
“It’s pretty typical whenever you build a new building on a piece of land that there are utilities that run through that land and have to be moved prior to construction,” said Brian Phillips, senior director of facilities management. “That’s the case with Parking Lot K.”
There are central plant lines and a sewer line that need to be relocated, Phillips said, which is currently happening. At this point, only the row of parking spaces closest to Alpha is closed off and the dumpsters behind the building have been moved to Lot K, which is located behind the east side of Alpha.
ONLY JUST THE BEGINNING
The utilities relocation is scheduled to end March 15, according to Phillips. The second phase of construction will then begin the following Monday and last until April 9. No further changes will be made to Lot K at that time. However, the road in between Sigma Hall and Alpha which leads to Lot L, the parking lot next to Emerson Hall, will be closed.
“This roadway is the only access to Lot L, the Emerson parking lot,” Phillips said. “During that road closure, we’re going to open up two-way traffic between Horton and Emerson in what they call Horton Way.”
During this phase, electrical utilities will be extended to the Sigma intersection for the new residence hall. Afterward, the third and longest phase begins.
The entire parking lot behind Alpha will be closed for the yearlong third phase, Phillips said. To keep the flow of traffic, drivers will be routed through Horton Way with a pedestrian walkway fenced off. However, large trucks and buses will be restricted from the road. The third phase is scheduled to last from April 10 of this year to April 2014.
When faced with the length of time the construction and detours will take, some students were amazed that it would take so long.
“It seems traffic would be a lot more congested,” said freshman biblical studies major Cody Storm. “I don’t understand why it would take so long to build a parking structure.”
INCONVENIENCES TO STUDENTS
With the road and parking lot closures, Phillips believes students may feel an inconvenience in parking.
Despite the closures, senior computer science major James Dawson, saw the changes as a necessary disruption.
“It’s going to be inconvenient,” Dawson said. “But it has to be done.”
However Phillips said that the loss of parking should not negatively impact students with cars significantly.
“In order to pick up parking, we’re going to have to sacrifice ground-level parking,” Phillips said. “But we have more than enough capacity on campus to make up for this loss of spaces.”
Phillips noted that the current parking structure usually has 300 to 400 open spaces at any given time and that the new parking structure will add more than 700. He also mentioned that while noise will be generated by the construction, the workers will not begin working until 7 a.m. due to city noise ordinances.
