Jason Smith was planning to park by the golf course to work at the library during the Olympics. He reconsidered, though, when it took him an hour to come from Foothill Drive to the Merrill Engineering Building parking lot.
“Traffic on 100 South will keep me from getting to the north side, and all the parking on campus is located on the north side,” said Smith, a senior in business information systems and Japanese.
Transportation and Parking Services will close the spaces from Presidents Circle to the Marriott Library, including the law school lots, and the library and bookstore visitor lots, until Feb. 27.
“I would consider taking the bus, but I can’t go from the U to Sugarhouse, where the computer classes are, with the bus in a reasonable amount of time,” Smith said. He is taking non-U classes in Sugarhouse.
Alma Allred, director of the U’s Transportation and Parking Services, however, feels the U has enough parking to accommodate students who will be on campus during the break.
“When classes aren’t in session, we will be able to accommodate people. For example, we have Latter-day Saint Institute lots. They have allowed us to use these lots when classes aren’t in session,” Allred said.
The parking and shuttle situation gets more complex on Feb. 4 through Feb. 8.
On Feb. 4, 5 and 7, Guardsman Way, which has offered two-way street parking since January, will be closed, so will 500 South.
There will still be parking on both sides of Wasatch Drive, as well as parking on one side of Federal Way, during the entire break.
Shuttle Changes
If parking spaces are available, getting to them will be a hassle.
The shuttles will continue running throughout the break, with changes on certain days. Even though the roads to East and West Village might close, the shuttles will have access to that part of campus.
On Feb. 4, 5 and 7, the red and green shuttle routes will not completely circle the campus. Instead they will make U-turns at the Business Loop and the intersection of 400 South and 1300 East.
Because both routes will be the same, they may be designated by only one color, but the shuttles will continue to stop every 10 minutes, according to Ken Searles, campus transit manager.
On Feb. 6 and 8, the south side of campus from Central Campus Drive will close, so no one can enter campus from the south. Also on those days, UTA will stop TRAX service at Rice-Eccles Stadium starting at 1 p.m.
Blue, green and red shuttles will go to the TRAX stop at 900 East and 400 South every hour on Feb. 6 and 8. The shuttles will drop off and pick up people every hour at the stop by Office Max’s parking lot. The shuttles will switch to this adjusted route at noon.
Prior to noon on Feb. 6 and 8, shuttles will run every 30 minutes. On these days, the shuttles will mainly transport hospital employees. They will pick up and drop off passengers at other locations only by request.
Searles encourages students and employees to call the shuttle dispatch to request accommodations.
“We don’t want to leave anyone stranded,” Searles said.
Additional changes will take place around the time of the Closing Ceremony.
According to the winter transportation guide, Health Sciences Center parking will not be reduced, but transportation to the health sciences buildings will be a challenge. Cars going to the east from Wasatch Drive to the hospital will have their vehicles checked. A park and shuttle lot for the Health Sciences Center will be off of North Campus Drive, west of the golf course.
For more information go to www.parking.utah.edu or call 581-6415