Monday, August 19, 2013

Got parking? UAA campus parking survival guide

Click here for full-size campus map.
You can’t help notice that UAA is growing. New buildings are rising, roads are hatching roundabouts, trees are moving and new footpaths are emerging—right before our eyes.

We know campus does not look like it did when you left last May. So here is our short, fall 2013 parking survival guide. In it you can learn:

  • Where new parking spaces have been added; when more will open up
  • Where’s the newest shuttle stop, and faster shuttle arrival times
  • Best places to park for a bookstore visit (hint: not where you parked last year)
  • How to ride city buses for free; other alternatives to driving to campus
  • How to get between the dorms and campus during road construction
So, here’s the facts
Seawolf Shuttle stops every six minutes; every 20 at UC.
  • Seawolf Shuttle frequency will increase to every 6 min; every 20 min at UC. Parking your car for free at UC, and using the shuttle to get to campus, could be a smart strategy.
  • Health Sciences Building across Providence Drive has an expanded parking lot, with 60 new spaces.
  • The North Lot, behind Gordon Hartlieb Hall (GHH) has 50 new spots; within a month, it will have 50 more. New Seawolf Shuttle stop and a new Pay 'n' Park machine here, too.
  • Pay ‘n’ Park machines upgraded to be faster, take credit or debit and EXACT CHANGE.
  • Spirit Drive will re-open for circulation Aug. 21.
  • The lot in front of Wells Fargo Sports Complex, home to the new Engineering Building, only has two parking rows open on the far west end of the lot. When you visit the bookstore for books and gear, don’t try to park here. Next best places? Behind Rasmuson Hall or behind GHH.
  • Parking enforcement begins again Aug. 26 from 7:30 am-7:30 pm M-Th. Parking is always free Fridays and on the weekends.
  • UAA has sufficient parking for demand; perimeter lots (East Lot near Arts and West Lot near Lake Otis Parkway) are consistently underutilized. Pragmatic strategies include parking in one spot for the day and using the Seawolf Shuttle, bikes, footpaths and spines to navigate campus.
  • See ‘Alternatives to driving to campus' below; UAA has good options.
  • Elmore Road with its shiny new roundabout will re-open Sept. 2. Until then, navigate between campus and the dorms:

  • On foot: Walk along Wellness Drive; it has a new sidewalk
  • By car: Get to Tudor, turn north on Elmore
  • By Shuttle

Alternatives to driving to campus
Always free with a Wolf Card.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is helpful.

But!

What and what is "UC"?

Are the spines actually open?

Thanks.

FEEDBACK said...

Hello Anonymous, and thank you for reading. And thank you for reminding not to use internal jargon. UC refers to University Center, up from Old Seward Hwy from 36th, home of UAA One Stop for registration and Wolf Cards etc. This is located in a shopping mall with large free parking lots designated for UAA drivers, so it is an alternative to paying for campus parking. Hop on the shuttle back and forth, and save the parking permit price.

The spines are indeed open -- for those who don't know, a host of buildings on the campus have elevated walkways, enclosed from the weather, so you can move across campus inside.

Anonymous said...

Is there a map that shows exact route of the shuttle? Thanks!

FEEDBACK said...

Hi Anonymous! You have the best questions.

The best place to get all the info, including maps, on the Seawolf Shuttle is right here. There is even a texting option to figure out when the next shuttle is coming to your stop.

http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/fcs/maintenanceoperations/operations/shuttle/index.cfm

This includes maps. We have another transportation meeting today, and after that I'll post route maps. I just want to make sure I've got the latest.

Some quick info from this page:

2013 FALL Semester
August 26th - December 13th
Monday - Thursday 7:45AM - 8:41PM
Friday 8:05AM - 4:41PM

More soon.

Anonymous said...

"The North Lot, behind Gordon Hartlieb Hall (GHH) has 50 new spots; within a month, it will have 50 more..."

I park in the North Lot every day year round. Where are the supposed "50 new spots?" Where will the supposed "50 more" be? If anything, we've lost 50 spots for storage of construction materials and University-owned vehicles.

FEEDBACK said...

Hi Anonymous. OK, as we speak, spaces are being opened up by moving University vehicles to other locations. Ultimately they will be moved to the new UAA-owned corner of Lake Otis and 36th, once an area there has been cleared for them. The expected space availability should be 50 additional spots by start of school, and 50 more once this Lake Otis/36th space is ready to store them. Likely within a month. So the lot you were used to seeing last year should look different by Monday. The plan is to gain a total of 100 new spots in North Lot.

Anonymous said...

Is the gain of 100 new parking spots before or after five spaces were permanently reserved for shuttle buses?

FEEDBACK said...

Thanks for writing. The spaces reserved for the shuttles are not deducted from the spaces being freed up by moving facilities equipment IN the fenced storage. The two rows that facilities has been using for storage contained a combined 104 spaces. The shuttle stop takes 4, and cutting the curb for access takes 2.
The removal of facilities equipment OUTSIDE the storage area will free up another 30 spots.

Anonymous said...

Is the sea wolf shuttle free or do we need student ID?

FEEDBACK said...

Hi! The Seawolf Shuttle is for use by students, staff and faculty at UAA. A student ID card specifically is not required. The shuttles are running quite full!

Anonymous said...

The shuttle is often extremely late. Is there a plan to purchase more shuttle vehicles and hire more drivers. I would take the shuttle more often but it is unreliable as far as getting me to class on time.

FEEDBACK said...

Hello Anonymous, and thank you! I am forwarding your thoughts and request on to our Seawolf Shuttle folks. I DO know that they have added an additional bus at peak times to trim the wait time down. And also that until add/drop passes (and the Elmore Roundabout opens {please, send sunshine....wet weather has delayed that and other construction), the shuttle will continue to strain to meet schedules. But soon we will be through this patch of weather and truly see what the added shuttles are able to do in terms of timely arrivals. Please keep the input coming! IE, let us know how it is working for you mid and late next week. By then we hope to be through some of the construction slowdowns.