With its dips, bumps and holes, the Northside Residence Hall parking area had gained a reputation as one of the most decrepit lots on campus.
Now, Lot 30 is getting a makeover.
“Transportation Services did a complete condition assessment of all the parking lot facilities, and we felt like Lot 30 is not representative of a high quality university such as Texas A&M,” said Rodney Weis, executive director of Transportation Services.
Though all three of the lot’s sections are at the same level of disrepair, only sections A and B will be repaired, Weis said. Section C is located where the Department of Residence Life is considering building another residence hall, and he said it wouldn’t be “prudent to reconstruct and lose all the work due to the new hall.”
“Of course, once the decision from Resident Life is made, we will be able to improve section C, if needed,” Weis said.
Weis plans to begin the renovation in May, with sections A and B closed for the summer. “The project was scheduled at a time when campus population is at a minimum, so as to minimize the impact on users,” said Peter Lange, associate director of Transportation Services.
Lange said the 90-day project includes restriping, resurfacing and other improvements. The renovation will also include improvements to lighting, additional handicapped parking and increasing the number of parking lots for motorcycles.
In addition, the plan will close the two entrances coming from University Drive, and a new one will be built continuous with Boyett Drive, a street running perpendicular to Northgate. The closed-off entrances will be turned into parking spaces, netting one more parking place in the lot.
The funds for the renovation – which will cost about $300,000 – will come from an increase to the three-year parking permit fixed plan rate. “We allocated some of that money to repair and maintenance of the facilities,” Weis said. The money can also be used for “other parking lots in need of repairs, such as Lots 36 and 61, which are scheduled to undergo repairs in the near future.”
“We highly encourage students to check our Web site.” said June Broughton, marketing and communications manager of Transportation Services. “Not only can students send suggestions, but check the progress of the current projects we got going on around campus.”