Transpark is looking to close part of the pay lot behind Half Acre after the UW Board of Trustees approved a contract for a major renovation and expansion of the student gym facility.
The Day Lot on the corner of 15th Street and Willett Drive will cease operations on May 10.
The Day Lot, which is east of the Half Acre Gym, will be closing until the spring of 2016 due to the remodeling of Half Acre. This lot will be used as a staging area for equipment and supplies during the renovation, causing it to shut down for use of faculty, students and staff.
The lot contains 142 temporary parking spaces that are paid for using two pay and display kiosks. The Day Lot is heavily used by students commuting to campus who are willing to pay for parking.
Based on a statement made on the Facilities Planning website, plans in Half Acre include both renovation and expansion to improve accessibility, ventilation systems and exercise areas.
Eighty percent of the lot is utilized by students, faculty, staff and visitors on a daily basis, according to Paul Kunket, manager of UW TransPark Services.
“I would encourage all commuting students to consider using the transit system during construction. We have express shuttles leaving two park and ride lots that serve the Wyoming Union every 7-9 minutes,” Kunket said.
The park and ride locations are on 15th Street and Spring Creek Drive south of campus and 30th Street and Willett Drive to the east of campus. These shuttles perform over 3,000 rides a day and contain no on-board fares as the system is supported by student fees.
Approximately 75 temporary parking spaces will be made available in the parking lot east of the Student Union. All spaces will be numbered and payments will be made at the blue kiosks that are currently in use in the Day Lot.
In order to encourage turnover and available visitor parking, the parking rate will be $1 an hour for the first two hours, and $2 an hour for each additional hour.
To control availability of other “A” spaces in the Day Lot, day permits will no longer be valid in the Union Lot unless there are special circumstances approved by Transit and Parking Services.
