Katie Johnson drives to the commuter lot before taking the bus the rest of her way to class. The 19-year-old political science sophomore has a green decal, one of the decal types that will have to find a new parking spot this semester.
The northern half of the commuter lot on Gale Lemerand Drive will be closed for construction starting Sunday. Temporary parking for those with student green, orange, blue or staff commuter decals will be provided.
“Not sure why they didn’t build up instead of out to begin with,” Johnson said. “It’s hard enough to time your arrival with a bus, let alone not being able to find a spot.”
The area will become Garage 14, a $32 million project that will add 2,000 new parking spaces by February 2020, according to the Transportation and Parking Services website. However, construction will close about 700 of the 1,100 spaces in the meantime. It will cost about $3 million to build alternative parking lots.
Blue decal alternative parking is found at Fifield Field, Archer Field, and the southern portion of the commuter lot.
Staff commuter and green decal parking is found at Fifield Field and the southern portion of the commuter lot.
Orange decal parking is found at Norman Field, Flavet Field, Fifield Field, and the southern portion of the commuter lot.
There will be over 1,000 spaces in four new lots to offset the temporary loss of the commuter lot, said Scott Fox, director of Transportation and Parking Services, in an email.
“We’re very sensitive to the needs of our customers. … We know that we need to provide them with alternative parking,” Fox said.
Correction: The article was updated to reflect that Garage 14 costs $32 million and alternative parking will cost $3 million. The Alligator previously reported otherwise.
Contact Tien Le at tle@alligator.organd follow her on Twitter @tientle11.
Since the 2009-2010 school year, the number of on-campus scooter decals bought dropped by about 4 percent, according to UF’s Transportation and Parking Services.
