Senior Water Sciences major Dave Block tries to keep the snow off while waiting for a campus shuttle at 14th & R Streets March 8. University employees, students and Lincoln residents awoke to snow, rain and sleet making streets and sidewalks sloppy and slick.

New Garages, Enhanced Shuttle System Hallmarks of New Parking Plan

By Kim Hachiya, Public Relations

Campus planners, parking personnel and business and finance officials are working overtime to ready documents to send to the Board of Regents this June authorizing the construction of a 1,200-stall parking garage at 17th and R streets.

The garage is the first of three planned for the city campus to replace current stalls that will be lost in the next four to five years due to construction. Current lots slated to go include faculty/staff lots near the Temple Building, Andrews Hall and Walter Scott and student lots near Harper-Schramm-Smith. In all, nearly 4,000 stalls on city campus could be displaced, representing 40 percent of current stalls available.

James Main, assistant vice chancellor for business and finance, said the new garages are "only a component, but a significant part" of a new transit system affecting both campuses. Among new options are the addition of three new shuttle buses to serve the city campus and an expanded shuttle operation to at least 11 p.m. nightly.

He anticipates building two more garages on the city campus - one near 14th and Avery and other at approximately 19th and Vine streets. The campus master plan also calls for a fourth garage to be built on East Campus, although a timetable for that garage is less concrete.

Tad McDowell, director of University Parking and Transit Services, said several factors influenced the decision to build additional garages. The city's removal of two surface lots in the 10th and Q street area has diminished available parking, particularly for commuting students. Campus construction projects call for new buildings to be sited on the lot by the Temple Building (visitors' center), 17A east of Andrews Hall (Esther Kauffman Center) and 17th and Vine (Additions to Walter Scott Engineering). The Antelope Valley Major Investment Study also has an impact, Main said, because once lands directly east of the city campus are declared in the flood plain, options for building on them are very limited. And the city is committed to widening Holdrege Street and creating an overpass in the 17th and Holdrege street area. These projects will remove several lots mostly used by residence hall and greek house students.

Long-range campus planning efforts began in earnest in the summer of 1997, Main said, as it became critical to address the looming parking crisis. Last spring, many public information sessions were held across campus to gather input and ideas about the campus master plan. Three options were considered related to parking concerns.

The first was to severely reduce the number of people allowed to bring cars to campus by restricting permit access, mostly likely by eliminating parking for freshman and sophomore students. McDowell said this option would not reduce the actual demand for parking, nor would it replace any stalls. It could reduce enrollments and would force residence hall students to park further from their destinations. City streets would probably become more congested with parking, and there probably would be an increase in illegal parking. This option also did not offer any alternatives for campus visitors, such as those using museums, theaters or university services. This plan was rejected.

The second plan, also rejected, was to develop satellite parking by purchasing or leasing large parcels of land, and then busing people to campus. McDowell said this option also did not address the loss of stalls nor serve campus visitors. It required extensive security, increased commuting time, particularly for those coming from an opposite direction, and would be costly to implement while at the same time reducing service.

The garage option offered many pluses, McDowell said. It centralizes parking and minimizes pedestrian-vehicle conflicts by removing vehicles from the campus core. It minimizes construction disruption, increases service for visitors and commuters and offers more security to residence hall students. The city campus garages do not increase the number of spaces being lost to construction; they are only replacing those stalls slated for demise.

In May of 1998, a Parking Plan was developed to build three multi-level garages and the 14th and Avery site was identified as first priority. Plans proceeded with that site until December, when students expressed a desire to build the structure in the 17th and R area. After review, Main said, it was determined that this site was feasible.

He said that because the location was changed, planners had to go back to the starting point in developing program statements and other documents associated with building a garage. This is why the authorization will be going to the regents in June rather than earlier in the year, he said.

Two lots will disappear this year: 17A east of Andrews and the faculty/staff lots south of the Temple Building. 17A permit holders will be temporarily moved to the mall east of Memorial Stadium (which will be paved). This temporary lot eventually will be returned to greenspace. Temple Lot permit holders will be dispersed to several existing lots.

Main anticipates groundbreaking for the new garage to begin sometime next spring, and the first cars to drive through the gates in time for fall semester 2001. The garages will be available to permit-holders only, although a few long-term meters will be available for visitors and other users. The garages will be patrolled by parking cadets; video cameras and lights will be used to provide 24-hour security.

Both McDowell and Main acknowledge the new parking and transit plan has a downside: parking fees will significantly increase beginning this summer, and parking availability will decrease before the supply increases. It will cost about $50 million to build the three garages and support a beefed up shuttle system. Those costs will be borne by users. And while costs will go up, the first garage won't come on line for two years, creating a disconnect between perceived and actual benefit.

The fees for a typical "area 10" permit holder escalate in $5 or $6 monthly increments annually through FY 2004. Fees for reserved parking jump in $9 or $10 monthly increments during the same period. Student fees also increase, although in $4 or $5 increments. Perimeter fees rise in $1 monthly increments.

This is painful, Main admits. However, the fees will be comparable to garage parking in downtown Lincoln. And UNL permit-holders have for years paid the lowest parking fees among its peer institutions. Main believes it's the rate of escalation that will leave some folks breathless.

However, the benefits will come, he believes. Because the new shuttles will travel very short routes, shuttle-wait times should be 5 minutes or less, he predicts. And video monitors in the garages are expected to show patrons where the shuttle is along the route, using a vehicle tracking system, so that patrons can estimate wait times. Retail and office space also will be part of the new structure at 17th and R streets.