Structure would likely be built north of Speedway Boulevard

With more surface parking spaces being lost to construction, UA is looking to add another parking garage soon.

Parking and Transportation Services officials are still working on an exact site for the garage, but they plan to find a location north of Speedway Boulevard. The garage would be constructed within the next two years.

If completed according to schedule, it would be the third garage to be completed in three years. The Tyndall Avenue Garage, which opened last year, has added 1,600 garage spaces, and a garage under construction on East Sixth Street will add another 1,600 spaces when it is finished next February.

ãThe recent garages have been built to replace parking spaces lost to campus construction,ä said PTS director Patrick Kass.

Officials have not yet determined how many spaces the new garage would hold.

Plans presented at a Comprehensive Campus Plan Meeting Tuesday showed the garage on Helen Street, which may allow cars to drive through it.

The plan would be similar to that of Tyndall Garage ÷ built with the street making up the middle and diverging traffic.

But since the plan is preliminary, PTS does not know yet if a plan of that nature would work north of Speedway.

ãThe type of garage is depending on the site location that is chosen,ä Kass said. ãWe still have a lot of work to do before looking into how the access will work exactly.ä

In a recent Campus Climate Study by the dean of studentsâ office, parking was named one of studentsâ top concerns.

Stacey Sampson, a graphic design and media arts junior, said a north-campus garage would be useful even though Park Avenue Garage is already in the same vicinity.

ãI have a Zone 1 and it would be nice to have covered parking,ä Sampson said.

ãWith more parking garages I think the permit prices for them should go down.ä

The Tyndall Avenue Garage cost about $13 million to build and the Sixth Street Garage is expected to cost $18 million, though it also includes offices, a plaza and greenhouses.

Since PTS is an auxiliary enterprise, it does not qualify for state funding and must operate as a business. This academic year, the price of Zone 1 permits rose $25.

A yearly garage pass goes for $400 compared to $185 for a Zone 1 permit and less for a Lot Specific permit.

Counting the spaces provided by the Sixth Street Garage, the ratio of surface to garage spaces is about 60 percent to 40 percent.