Parking Guide
Penn State Intercom......April 24, 2003

Changes coming this spring
to parking structure

In the next few weeks, changes will begin in the way parking is assigned on the University Park campus. Once the parking strategy segment of the Intermodal Transportation Plan is completed, faculty and staff will be able to park as close to their destinations as possible, and students will park closer to where they live on the campus.

The changes also will provide more reliable visitor parking; make parking rate structures simpler and more equitable; and provide a safer and less congested central campus for pedestrians.

The changes are expected to begin May 3, when the parking in Lot 80, Orange A Mitchell, Orange A Curtin and the section of Yellow R that is head-in adjacent to the Agricultural Sciences Building will be taken off-line for the beginning of the East sub-campus project. East sub-campus involves the area located within the block bordered by Park Avenue and Bigler, Curtin and Shortlidge roads.

At that time, construction will begin on the new East Parking Deck. Also planned for the site are a new food sciences building with the Berkey Creamery, a new Smeal College of Business Administration building and a new School of Forest Resources building. Nearby existing buildings used by the College of Agricultural Sciences will remain unchanged by the new construction.

Students who currently park in Lot 80 will move to Lot 83N or Stadium West until the end of spring semester. When the students return for fall 2003, they will find the Lot 80 spaces replaced by more convenient parking in the areas of East Halls and Pollock/South Halls.

Employee options

Employees currently parking in the Orange A Mitchell and Orange A Curtin lots have several parking options during construction of the East Deck:

* Some reserved parking permits will be available at $34 per month.

* Employees may keep their orange open staff permits and park in available orange lots.

* Employees may opt for parking in the commuter lots (Stadium West and Jordan East) at a rate of $5 per month, effective May 1.

Estimated completion date of the East Deck is fall 2004. At that time, displaced employees may be given the option to return to the East Deck at the reserved rate on a space-available basis or remain in the commuter lots or orange lots at the 2004 rates.

The orange open staff lots that will be converted to student lots adjacent the resident halls will go off-line Aug. 1 for the changeover. Employees currently parking in those lots will have options based on departmental permit allocations.

These employees may opt to pay the higher fee to remain in the core of campus if permits are available through their department; they may keep their orange open staff permits and park in available orange lots; or they may opt for a $5 per month commuter permit for Stadium West or Jordan East.

New bus schedule

In coordination with these changes to the East sub-campus parking, the summer campus bus service will change to provide more effective service for relocated employees. The summer campus service will include a Link route and the Campus Loop route. Service hours will be 4:45 a.m. through midnight Monday through Friday.

Bus service is not provided on Saturdays and Sundays over the summer due to the relaxed parking policies. All University parking permits are valid in the majority of the reserved lots on campus weekdays between 4 p.m. and 7:30 a.m. the next business day, and all day Saturday and Sunday.

All University employees and students must display a valid parking permit at all times while parked on campus.

Metered visitor parking

Effective May 9, the metered visitor parking lot on Curtin Road across from the Visual Arts Building will be converted to a faculty/staff reserved lot designated as Yellow E, as part of the replacement parking strategy for changes to current parking related to the new School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA) building project and the East sub-campus construction projects.

This lot also will provide visitor parking by permit for daily visitors to the Palmer Museum and for evening events.

Short-term meters will be installed in the current Yellow E lot at the corner of Curtin and Shortlidge Roads just across the street from the Creamery. These meters are being installed to serve the needs of Creamery patrons for weekday use.

In addition, this summer the meters currently located in the Orange C lot off of Hastings Road will be relocated to the Orange F lot just north of Greenberg and Lasch buildings. This relocation will add some permit parking spaces in Orange C and move the meters to a more convenient location for ice rink, Greenberg and Lasch patrons.

Temporary loss of Green D

As soon as spring semester ends, construction will begin for SALA Building, off of Shortlidge Road in the vicinity of the current Green D parking lot, between North Halls and the Visual Arts Building. The Green D parking lot will be off-line during the construction, and will return in a new configuration upon completion of the building. Design of the new lot is not yet complete, but every attempt is being made to design this lot with a capacity close to what currently exists in Green D.

During construction, employees currently possessing a Green D permit have been asked to choose between permits for Green B (Nittany Deck) or Yellow F (Eisenhower Deck). Some of these individuals also will be offered permits for the new Yellow E parking lot across from the Visual Arts Building.

Employees affected by the temporary closure of Green D also may opt for the $5 per month commuter permit.

For more information and updates, check the Web at http://www.transportation.psu.edu/.

Faculty/staff price structure to change

With implementation of the new parking plan comes a simpler, two-tiered parking structure for faculty and staff. For the next five years, reserved parking permit prices will be frozen at the current $34 per month rate. Commuter permits, which currently cost $16 per month, will drop to $5 per month in May.

As parking across the University Park campus switches from open to reserved over the next five years, prices in those lots will slowly rise, until they reach to the $34 level. By 2007/08, all faculty and staff who park on the University Park campus will pay either the reserved rate of $34 per month or the commuter rate of $5 per month.

These changes do not apply to the reserved Blue 00 and Red 00 permits.

Commuter parking permit price drops

Effective May 1, the rate for the Stadium West and Jordan East (Lot 44) commuter lot permits decreases to $5 per month for all faculty, staff and students. This decrease in rate is in direct correlation to the start of the East sub-campus construction projects that will impact approximately 2,000 parking spaces.

In addition to the decrease in rate for commuter lot permits, the campus bus service will initiate changes in hours of service to meet the needs of commuter permit holders. The summer campus bus service will operate from 4:45 a.m. through midnight, Monday through Friday. The campus bus service does not run on Saturdays and Sundays over the summer. All University faculty/staff and student permits, including the commuter permits, will be valid in a majority of core campus lots all day Saturday and Sunday. A few core lots are designated for

faculty/staff permits only, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These are identified by signs at the entrance to each lot. In addition, student commuter permits are not valid on campus between 4 and 6 a.m.

Summer Campus Loop service runs as follows:

* 4:45 to 6 a.m.: every 15 minutes;

* 6 to 7 a.m.: every 10 minutes;

* 7 to 9 a.m.: every eight minutes;

* 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.: every 12 minutes; and

* 6 p.m. to midnight: every 20 minutes.

Summer Campus Link service runs as follows:

* 4:45 to 7 a.m.: every 20 minutes; and

* 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.: every 15 minutes.

The evening/weekend parking permit is being eliminated as it provides for the same reserved lot use as the commuter permit. To obtain the commuter permit at the new rate, contact area departmental parking chairs.

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