From the 'Wish We Had A Helicopter' school of photography

Street view of the new Elmore Road roundabout.

Here is the Elmore Road roundabout, unveiled late Monday. This photo was snapped by our friend Ryan Buchholdt in Facilities from the University Lake Building parking lot on the east side of Elmore Road, showing the street-level view of the roundabout. Thank you, Ryan!

Ryan says traffic has been increasing along this stretch of Elmore as more and more folks realize it is once again open and linking traffic between Tudor Road and Providence Drive.

If you happen to fly over, snap us a shot and we'll post it here. A bird's eye view might be easier to fully absorb the addition of the roundabout and how it affects movement along Elmore.

Use Elmore Road to get to work tomorrow! It re-opens after 6 p.m. Monday 9/16

Thank you, Sun.

The sunny weather the last few days has helped.

And now, the word is OFFICIAL:

Elmore Road, with its new roundabout, will re-open Monday, Sept. 16 after 6 p.m., once again linking Tudor Road to Providence Drive via Elmore Road. This makes access to UAA dorms, APU, Alaska Public Media and the Alaska Native Medical Center campus easier for everyone.

That means you can use it tomorrow in your morning commute.

Just for fun, we have a very unofficial countdown clock running at this link. And as soon as we get one, we'll post a shot of what the roundabout looks like.

Thanks for your patience, everyone.

Oh, Elm-o-o-o-o-o-ore! When will you re-open?

Sunshine, Sat+Sun+Mon.

The secret to that puzzle is the weather. As we have posted here earlier, our very wet August and September slowed down road construction projects, not just for UAA, but for the whole city.

On the bright side, take a look at the weather forecast for the next few days. If we are in for some good dry weather, as it appears we are, then much progress will be made.

A check with UAA Facilities indicates that the news is promising. The Elmore Road roundabout construction team has  poured the last bit of concrete today, and must pave the sidewalks in the area. If the weather cooperates, the odds are looking good that work could be complete by Sunday. We aren't promising that, but we have fingers and toes crossed that the sun will stick with us for a few days and let this work proceed quickly.

In other news, in an effort to utilize some of the very unused parking on campus, the UAA Alumni Association offered to host free coffee and morning treats for three mornings in the Fine Arts parking lot,

Wet weather delays Elmore re-opening; more parking coming online in South Lot Sept. 10

Elmore closure extended into the week

The Elmore closure, which was originally scheduled to finish on Monday, Sept. 2, is being extended into this week. The completion date is dependent on weather and availability of paving crews. The rainy weather has delayed paving projects across the city.

South Lot parking status; adding 60 more spaces by Sept. 10

The temporary staging yard for the new engineering building, across Providence at the SE corner of Lake Otis and 36th, is expected to be complete and ready for use on Monday, Sept. 9. This will allow the engineering building contractor, Neeser Construction, to relocate some of their equipment from South Lot to the temporary yard—and free up more parking in South Lot.

The fence around the building site will be pulled in, returning an additional row of parking, by the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 10 (maybe as soon as late in the day on the Sept. 9).

North Lot parking status

Facilities Maintenance & Operations will begin to move the remainder of their equipment out of North Lot on Tuesday, Sept. 10; it will take several days but this will free up more parking spaces.

How South Lot will look through the winter (another row of parking added back in)

Right now, two bays of parking are available on the west side of the South Lot in front of Wells Fargo Sports Complex. Once the contractor is able to pull his equipment in closer to the Engineering Building site, another bay of parking will open in this lot, for an addition of roughly 60 more spaces. Pictured at left is the expected status for this parking lot and construction site throughout this winter. Illustration provided by Facilities. Click here for a larger version.

Meanwhile, an analysis of spaces within the fenced area in the North Lot behind GHH shows that moving all this gear will open up 104 spaces. The new shuttle stop in this lot will take up four spots, and cutting the curb will eat two more. But an additional 30 parking spots will be available outside of the fenced area as Facilities continues to relocate its equipment to allow more parking in this lot.

Going to UAA One Stop over the weekend? Read this.

There are special hours in Advising and Testing and the One-Stop this weekend, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. WolfCard and Cashiering are not presently planning to be open.

The Municipality has advised UAA that rain has prevented start of the paving project planned for weekday evenings this week. Initially they had planned to close the intersection of 36th and Old Seward Highway Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings.

Because of the persistent rain the closure of that intersection could, is likely, to include day time hours now as the rush to complete paving during breaks in the rainfall this weekend.

The main entrance to the University Center (40th Avenue) will be open and the traffic signal in operation, but Old Seward Highway may be closed north of the light.

Anyone coming to the University Center this weekend should approach the building from the South (Tudor Road) or from the West coming across directly on 40th Avenue.

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.

• 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