Construction workers work on the new parking lot located at the southeast corner of 13th Ave. and Market Street by King Hall. The new lot should be up and running within the next few weeks.
Jenny Pendarvis/The Bulletin
Construction on the new parking lot located at the southeast corner of 13th Ave. and Market Street (by King Hall) began on Oct. 10, and the new lot should be up and running within the next few weeks.
The area may be used by those with orange parking permits, and it will have the same amount of space as the current orange parking lot, located near the east side of the Memorial Union and Market Street, which will be switched to conference parking.
“About three or four years ago, there was discussion when we started the Memorial Union project because the way the Memorial Union was configured, there will be more conferences in the Memorial Union,” said Mark Runge, director of university facilities, “and because of that, you have to have parking. So, the decision was made that the parking lot directly next to the union should become conference parking. If it’s not conference parking, it should be visitors’ parking.”
The conference parking lot will have meters, which will be moved from the current visitor parking lot to the current orange parking lot. The current visitor parking lot will expand to a larger violet parking lot.
Runge said that if more than 50 people come for a conference, they can still use the violet parking spaces. When there is a conference on campus, attendees will be given parking permits, and there will be a sign for instructions in the conference parking area.
Kenji Bolden, senior music education major, said that it would be nice if there were more parking spaces on the east side of campus.
“I wish there were meters that allow you to use dimes, nickels, and quarters, so it would be easier to get rid of some of those smaller coins,” Bolden said.
Bolden also said the fact that they had to limit some parking spots during the semester for students and faculty was unfortunate.
“The parking thing is kind of difficult,” said Jase Hubert, junior business major. “It is a rush right before class to find a spot. It (the new lot) will make parking a lot smoother.”
As for Randy Richards, senior music major, he said the new parking lot will make it easier for students and faculty trying to get to the Beach Hall and King Hall and that it would save a lot of time for people driving around and trying to find a parking space.