Tuesday, June 28, 2005

The University of North Carolina Wilmington Board of Trustees executive committee approved the site of UNCW’s first parking deck on Wednesday, June 22, 2005. The deck will be located at the intersection of Hurst and Hamilton Drives at the site of the current tennis courts. It will be three stories tall, designed in the brick, neo-Georgian style and provide approximately 600 spaces primarily for commuter students and visitors.

The executive committee also approved a new surface parking lot to meet the demand being created by the Education, Cultural Arts and Nursing buildings. This need was identified last year by the parking, transportation and traffic committee. The lot, which will be located on Reynolds Drive across from the Cultural Arts building, will provide 200 spaces primarily for faculty, staff and visitors.

Today, the university’s parking inventory includes 5,831 spaces. This total reflects spaces already yielded to building sites and construction areas. In addition to the 800 spaces that will be added by the new deck and lot, another 472 spaces will be added at the Seahawk Village apartment complex. With those and small numbers of spaces being added at sites such as the Nixon-Almkuist Sports Medicine Complex, the inventory for fall 2006 is expected to top 7,000. However, future plans for new building sites will impact this number.

“The net gains we will experience from the construction of the new deck and parking lots should certainly ease the parking congestion we have experienced recently,” said Gwen Bolden, parking manager.

During the current master planning process, the university community has recognized that land is a finite resource. “This parking deck will allow us to build more parking spaces while utilizing less land than a traditional surface lot,” said Sharon Boyd, associate vice chancellor business affairs and parking, traffic and transportation committee chair.

The decision to build a parking deck and the choice of the site was a collaborative effort that included business services, facilities, master planners, UNCW building and grounds committee, cabinet and board of trustees. This particular site was chosen because, being located on the periphery of campus, it promotes the pedestrian campus concept. It is consistent with the university’s long-range plan to reduce traffic in the core of campus while encouraging access to the campus from the south instead of adding to the congestion at the north, or Randall Drive area, entrances. This site will also provide parking for campus events.

The deck site was very carefully considered because as Boyd pointed out, decks are permanent structures. “While a surface lot is more flexible and could become a building site later if needed, a deck will be a permanent feature of the campus,” she said.

One particularly appealing feature of the deck is a shuttle depot along the east side of the deck that will easily accommodate two shuttles and allow commuters to arrive on campus, park and board a campus loop shuttle that will take them to their destinations without ever stepping out from sheltered areas. Sidewalks and bike paths will also connect to the deck area.

The deck, which will cost approximately $12,000,000, is on a compressed timeline. Design and construction will begin as soon as possible in order to complete the deck in time for the 2006 academic year.

For more information, e-mail Sharon Boyd at boyds@uncw.edu.