Construction chokes off campus parking

As new buildings and facilities break ground at a historic rate, the University community has lost access to 18 percent of the once-available parking spaces.

The crunch will leave 2,700 campus spaces for the University’s almost 40,000 students, faculty and staff.

Parking availability on North and South campuses has been especially tight in recent years, said Department of Public Safety spokesman Randy Young, and competition for spaces remains high even as new lots open.

The University’s Master Plan calls for about 1.9 million square feet of additional parking to be included in the total 3.6 million square feet of space that will be added by the end of the build-out.

But until the hard hats and bulldozers are replaced by buildings and newly painted parking spaces, those who drive to UNC will have to fight for parking position.

“I think while we will see several new parking areas online it really wouldn’t be prudent to say that parking will be at the same level (as past years),” Young said.

The Sept. 9 reopening of Memorial Hall and the inevitable crowds that will follow magnify the parking plight on campus for some University planners.

Officials expect that the performing arts hall, which seats more than 1,400, will be a huge draw to campus, and they have had to rely on creative planning to accommodate the crowd flow.

“We’ve had to put together a big parking plan that’s like how it is for athletics,” said Emil Kang, executive director for the arts.

Depending on the level of donations to Memorial Hall, parking will range from valet parking to passes to nearby pay lots. Park-and-ride shuttles and on-campus unreserved parking lots also will be available for patrons.

And though frustrations with parking seem to be at a historic high, a number of new lots will be available in the coming months.

The parking deck in the new Ramshead Center, which opened last spring, will help alleviate mid-campus congestion.

The deck offers 768 parking spaces — 368 for student permits and 400 for visitors. The University community can use these visitor spaces for short-term paid parking, unlike other campus visitor spots.

To meet the requests for more faculty and staff spaces, DPS Chief Derek Poarch said the University would have to formally amend the town’s development plan.

The new Chatham park-and-ride lot, slated to open Sept. 6, will offer express bus service to campus, and next summer the campus will welcome two new parking decks.

One deck, outside Paul Green Theater, will add 470 spaces and the other, near UNC Hospitals, will create 800 parking spaces. Both are slated to be completed in the summer of 2006.

Because parking is at a minimum, Young said, the department is encouraging the community to use other transportation options.

The Commuter Alternatives Program — which asks UNC community members to ditch single occupancy vehicles — encourages alternative transportation.

For up-to-date information on campus parking and construction, visit http://www.dps.unc.edu.

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.