September 5, 2001 West Campus construction update University Park -- The relocation of underground utilities on the Penn State University Park campus west of North Atherton Street will make major changes to access and parking for west campus this week. Preliminary work on the two-year construction project of the Information Sciences and Technology Building (IST) begins this Wednesday morning, Sept. 5, with new construction fences erected around parking area Red A. Some of the original parking spaces in the middle of the fenced in area will continue to be usable throughout the construction period. Entry to these spaces will be clearly marked although the exact route will change occasionally to allow for construction needs. After mid-November, a new road, White Course Drive, will be opened to replace Pollock Road as the main entryway to west campus. Construction of a replacement parking lot for Red A also will begin next week and the lot is expected to be open for use in early November. (See map at right.) This project will impact approximately 230 parking spaces in the section of Red A located between the Water Tunnel, Research West and the White Golf Course, taking them off-line permanently. This means that beginning Wednesday morning, Sept. 5, a large portion of the Red A parking lot will not be available. Currently, two access points exist to enter the portion of Red A lot just west of North Atherton. For the initial phase of this project, vehicular access into this main section of Red A will be through one point located just west of the North Atherton intersection. As the project progresses, the access points will change. The contractor will post signs directing permit holders to the access points. Pedestrians crossing North Atherton from the Red A parking lot will be directed to the Pollock and North Atherton intersection for crossing. Due to the construction fencing and safety issues, mid-block crossings of North Atherton are not possible. The western section of the Red A parking lot located north of the Earth and Engineering Sciences building will retain its current access point during the project. Estimated completion date for this project is now the mid-November timeframe. The completion date for the Curtin Road Extension is also set for mid-November. The Parking Office is working on several ways to reduce the demand of parking in Red A. As of this time, approximately 85 employees have volunteered to relocate out of Red A until completion of the West Campus Replacement lot. Additionally, Parking is removing approximately 39 meters from the Red H south parking lot. These spaces will be assigned as Red A parking and are valid for all Red A permit holders. Visitors may use the remaining metered spaces or park in the Nittany Parking Deck. Parking is pursuing other alternatives that may create additional Red A parking spaces and will make notification if those alternatives are selected. The Parking Office will continue to monitor the entrances to the Red A parking lots to prevent the parking of unauthorized vehicles. **pdr** Contact:  Paul Ruskin, Office of Physical Plant, at (814) 863-9620 or e-mail pdr2@psu.edu