Additional parking will be available for students, beginning on the first day of class of the 2003 fall semester.

The parking expansion and renovation project at Jack Trice Stadium should add about 800 spaces, said Capt. Doug Houghton, program manager for parking with the Department of Public Safety. He said 650 of these spaces will be available to all students, while 150 will be reserved for the Athletic Department.

Houghton said this project is “well under way.”

“I believe our intent for the stadium parking serves multiple purposes,” said Catherine Brown, program coordinator for Facilities Planning and Management. She said the stadium parking will “continue to provide parking for students who are living in university student housing, not commuter parking.”

Brown said that the school is “trying to meet the expanding needs for Reiman Gardens and quality parking for events at the football stadium,” and that this expansion will help with large-event parking.

The second part of this three-part plan includes building a one-level deck over an existing parking lot on campus. “The parking deck will be 180 to 200 new stalls,” Houghton said.

In about two weeks, an independent engineering firm will issue a report on the best places to build this one-level deck.

“We looked at the main campus and set criteria,” Houghton said. “We are not going to build a parking deck between Beardshear and Curtiss and we are not going to tear down a building for parking.”

The firm identified nine sites that met the criteria and has been evaluating these sites for traffic and pedestrian impact. Engineering issues, such as selecting ground that is able to hold the parking deck’s weight, are also being examined, Houghton said.

The third part of this plan is to create a multi-level parking deck.

“We’re working like mad to have the Jack Trice spaces open by August 23, 2002, for the first day of class,” Houghton said. “There are a couple little pieces that we know will not be done that soon – by Reiman Gardens there will be some finish work that won’t get done.”

A $6.1 million bond will fund the first two parking projects. Construction at the stadium will cost about $2.9 million, while the single-level parking deck will be between $2.5 and 3 million.

“These two projects will work out to be right at $6 million,” Houghton said.

“Now that the bonds have been sold, we have the money and we want to convert that to parking spaces as soon as possible,” he said.

Construction on the parking deck is projected to begin in summer 2003.