Trustees approve parking project

The gravel parking lot directly south of Assembly Hall on the corner of 17th Street and Fee Lane will be given a much needed makeover this summer. \nIn a plan approved by the board of trustees Thursday, the Blue lot will be paved, new lighting fixtures will be installed and trees will be planted around the perimeter. The plan also calls for the realignment of the entrance drive near Walnut Grove Avenue and the closing of the drive near Forrest Avenue.\n"This reconstruction is a long overdue improvement," University Landscape Architect David Smith said. "I've been here more than two decades, and it's been gravel as long as I've been here."\nThe project is expected to cost more than $1.6 million, which will come from revenue the parking operations receives from selling permits and ticketing. Smith said he expects to begin the project this summer and have it completed by the time students return in the fall.\nBoard of trustees Vice President Stephen Ferguson supported the idea.\n"This is a priority," he said. "It is important because it represents improvement for two areas of the University. It serves the parking needs of both the campus and the athletic department."\nSmith said an aerial photograph taken at a football game showed the Blue lot currently holds approximately 975 cars and a few motor homes. By paving the lot, it should be equipped to handle approximately 1,274 vehicles.\nLater, Executive Director of Transportation Maggie Whitlow outlined two parking areas that need improvement in the next two to five years.\nNew construction eliminating the lot on the corner of 11th Street and Walnut Grove Avenue will create problems, she said. \nThe Indiana State Budget Committee approved the construction of a mulitdisciplinary science building in Sept. 2003 to be located off Tenth Street and between Woodlawn Avenue and Walnut Grove Avenue.\n"There's a 200 space lot going away, and 600 spaces are going to need to be there," Whitlow said.\nShe said new construction will also create the need for further parking in the southwest corner of the campus.\n"We've been surveying where people work compared to where they're parking," Whitlow said. "The southwest is a critical sight."\nCurrently, parking operations is working with Bloomington to provide student parking on the south side in Bryan Park.\nIn another effort to improve on-campus parking, those with A or C permits were offered free bus passes.\n"We sent those e-mails out at 5:30 on a Thursday," said Bruce Jacobs, assistant vice chancellor of residential programs and services. "By noon Friday, we had 1,200 requests. It's simple to use, and it reduces the number of cars on campus, which was the goal."\nWhitlow said an increase may be in store for A and C permits next year, and students and faculty should explore other ways of getting to campus.\n "The employee bus pass is a good way of getting people used to what the bus can do for them," she said. "As the campus need for parking grows, we have to experiment with alternate ways of getting here besides one person in one car." \n-- Contact senior writer Chris Freiberg at wfreiber@indiana.edu.