Got parking? UAA campus parking survival guide

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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.

• U-Pass (ride the People Mover or Valley Mover for free anytime anywhere)
• Zimride (online carpool system)
• Hertz on Demand 24/7 (short term car rental from campus)
• Seawolf Shuttle

Pedestrians, People Mover stop at Spirit Way/Providence Drive affected by ML&P work

UPDATE Aug. 14, 2013: This work has been halted for now, so we don't anticipate any bus stop or pedestrian disruption as fall semester gets underway. Should that status change, we will update this post.

Municipal Light and Power (ML&P) will conduct work for an unknown duration of time tentatively beginning  this weekend at the intersection of Spirit Way and Providence Drive.

It is unlikely that any vehicular restrictions will apply; however, pedestrian traffic will likely be affected (the People Mover bus stop and sidewalk on the northwest corner of the intersection may be closed).

Any questions or concerns should be director toward Cory Fischer, Assistant Project Manager, cjfischer@uaa.alaska.edu, (907) 786-6763.

Elmore closure may require UAA travel detours, Aug. 12–Sept. 2

As part of the construction of UAA's new sports arena, the Alaska Airlines Center, GMC Contracting Inc. will be closing Elmore Road to through traffic between University Lake Drive and Sharon Gagnon Lane beginning Aug. 12. The closure will last until approximately Sept. 2 as crews build a new roundabout intersection and complete underground utility work.

This road closure will not allow for vehicular or pedestrian traffic. Please follow the construction DETOUR signs for alternative routes. See map for closure location.

Elmore Road closure between University Lake Dr. and Sharon Gagnon Ln., Aug. 12–Sept. 2

Piper Street, Dale Street, Lake Otis Parkway and Providence Drive are recommended alternative routes to and from campus and UAA's residential community.

Please plan on giving yourself extra travel time.

For more information, contact GMC Contracting Inc.: (907) 771-7728.

High voltage work on campus

UPDATE (Aug. 7, 2:30 p.m.):  There is a scheduled power outage for the west campus on Friday, Aug. 9, from 6–8 a.m. Affected buildings include:

• Gordan Hartlieb Hall 
• Automotive & Diesel Technology
• Lucy Cuddy Hall
• Beatrice McDonald Hall
• Sally Monserud Hall
• Professional Studies Building
• Wendy Williamson Auditorium
• Eugene Short Hall
• Allied Health Sciences
• Rasmuson Hall

ML+P will be connecting to the new switch cabinet, see project 2 below. UAA Facilities Maintenance will be on site.

Original post:
There are two separate electrical projects on campus occurring almost simultaneously. There is no scheduled power outage. However, with work on the east campus electrical primary, please be aware there is an elevated chance that an outage may occur due to human error or mechanical failure.

Project 1: Preventative maintenance work on high voltage switchgear A
Dave Cannon with Anvil Corporation has been contracted to do the work, Aug. 6 and 7, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. No power outages are expected from this work, though we will need to be on heightened alert that we could experience one. Outages have occurred in the past when this work has been done. They have been brief and do not affect the entire campus but will affect entire buildings.
Should an outage occur the following buildings will be affected:

    •    Social Sciences Building
    •    Energy Module 2
    •    Central Parking Garage
    •    Natural Sciences Building
    •    Engineering Building
    •    Student Union
    •    Campus Bookstore
    •    Wells Fargo Sports Complex
    •    Energy Module 1
    •    ANSEP Building

Project 2: ML+P upgrade of the west campus primary metering and switching cabinet
This project involves the UAA-owned east campus (see building list above) high voltage primary and west campus high voltage primary interface with ML+P just to the west of Rasmuson Hall. Our high voltage system was set up for a seamless power transfer between feeders, so unless something goes wrong, no outage for the East Campus is being planned at this time.

ML+P will be replacing the metering and switch cabinets. To accomplish this, we will be using our east campus switch cabinets to transfer power between our parallel feeders. The intent is to be able to shut off the power so ML+P can remove and adjust the cables. ML+P is currently investigating the job and we expect them to begin the actual work next week. We will issue an update when the work progresses, with planned impacts to West Campus.

Please refer your questions about these projects to Tom Sternberg, CFM, director of Facilities Maintenance and Operations: thsternberg@uaa.alaska.edu or (907) 786-6947 (office) or (907) 980-6865 (cell).

Ready for that Elmore Road Roundabout?

Roundabout location in yellow.

Stan Vanover, project manager for the Alaska Airlines Center (UAA's big new sports arena), is overseeing the construction of the Elmore Roundabout, to be situated on Elmore Road just past the turn for the University Lake Building along Elmore.

Knowing Alaskans like to get ready for their roundabouts, we checked in with Stan this week to see how plans are coming along. He obliged by creating this schematic that shows exactly where the roundabout will be located. Cornerstone Construction will do the work.

Stan reported that the Alaska DOTPF has officially approved the construction plan and work can now begin. Look for activity to start Monday, July 22, although pedestrian and vehicle traffic won't be affected initially.

Periodic traffic disruptions or road closures will be scheduled for weekends, and we could see one as early as Saturday, July 27.

The projected completion date is  approximately Wednesday, Sept. 7.

Spirit Way sidewalk along UAA Campus Bookstore exterior closed June 24 p.m., expected to re-open Friday, June 28 a.m.

Pedestrians can use the double-line path to continue east.

As Neeser Construction prepares to connect utilities on the new Engineering Industry Building (EIB), the sidewalk along the UAA Campus Bookstore will be temporarily closed from Monday afternoon, June 24, to Friday morning, June 28.

Pedestrians who leave the bookstore can travel east along Spirit Way for a short distance; they will be diverted to a fenced-in route through the construction work site, allowing them to connect again with Spirit Way as it approaches Providence Drive. The double blue lines in the graphic below illustrate the temporary route.

New construction update, June 19, 2013

UAA has an ongoing parking and traffic flow task force, aimed at bringing the best solutions forward as the university grows. That task force will meet throughout the summer and into the fall, and this blog will routinely include their construction and parking updates.

UPDATE: Engineering Industry Building (EIB)

Engineering Industry Building (EIB)

Project lead John Hanson's update:

• Underground work (storm drains, electrical power, natural gas connections) are moving forward. 
• Structural steel will start arriving in July and the building will start going up in early August.
• Connecting water to the new building is not expected to require any water outages to surrounding buildings; if that changes we'll update you here.

UPDATE: Parking Squeeze - adding back spots

Work this summer will include adding 63 parking spots across Providence Drive on the north side of the Health Sciences Building. As HSB students and faculty are able to park closer to their destination, that will free up more spaces in UAA's parking lots on the north side of Providence Drive.

In addition, there is an unloved and unused parking lot on the busy north side of campus where most of UAA is located. That lot is called the North Parking Lot (see below) and it is directly behind Gordon Hartlieb Hall and the Auto Diesel Technology Building. It has been a frequent staging ground for UAA maintenance work, and is often, wrongly, thought to be off limits. It is available, and better yet, the UAA facilities department will be relocating much of its equipment out of this lot to free up 100 parking spaces there in time for fall semester.

North Parking Lot, behind Gordon Hartlieb Hall,  will be getting 100 more spaces.

The task force is also actively pursuing the best location for a new Seawolf Shuttle stop in the North Parking Lot, and also adding a Pay 'n' Park machine. More on both of those developments as the summer progresses.

The parking and traffic task force meets again on July 10. Feel free to post questions or parking ideas on this blog before then.

Coming soon will be updates on the Elmore Roundabout.  Currently, the Alaska DOT is reviewing UAA's plans. Once they give a green light, we will be able to share that plan here, including schematics of the roundabout.

Thanks for reading!