New Parking Garage

[LARaginCajun]

leave the green space, and put the garage where there is already a parking lot. Leave that spot open for future development, we are using to much of our space. Also if you build the parking garage make it huge like 20 stories, and 5,000 parking spots. Have yall seen the Parking Garage at Texas A@M. UL needs something like that. Also you take all the other parking lots on campus out, and you start putting buildings, and leave room for expansion.

Also like Southern Miss there are 2 parking garage's around the stadium, to me UL can put one parking garage very close to the stadium, and so it can handle the influx of people that come to the game, if UL starts getting more then 25,000 people they will have to put a parking garage to handle the people.

[ljr3721]

Does anyone know if this garage is being built with a foundation capable of supporting more stories later, if needed?

[Turbine]

Does anyone know if this garage is being built with a foundation capable of supporting more stories later, if needed?

Don't know.

I would like to see the "Design Students" from the UL School of Architecture and Design come up with a parking garage design that goes over the 4-corner intersection of Congress and Cajun Dome Blvd.

With the right design this could make the parking garage instantly usable by the UL LITE Center, Hilton and Gardens, Cajun Dome, the Swamp, and any of the various events that take place inside Cajun Basin.

[CDeb]

Hahaha where UL getting all this money?

It is a great idea though. It won't happen anytime soon.

We voted on that parking garage a few years ago and I been paying fees for it. I graduate in December... I'll never get to use it.

We were expecting this garage to be behind Griffin originally. They put the new computer science building there. We should have scraped the parking garage. It doesn't do much to help. 417 spots isn't going to help that much, but that area on campus is going to be conjested. UL is losing all it's green space.

417 spots is HUGE when you consider that there are currently about 1000 spots available on campus, including those for faculty. A 42% increase is not trivial.

[DaddyCajun]

Does anybody know how many stories the parking garage is supposed to be?

Also, perhaps the university should look into making a parking garage at cajun field. This way more people could park in the tower leaving more room for tailgating area. I realize it might not be feesible now, but hopefully in the future it might be something seriously considered.

There is plans for a parking tower at Cajun Field! The students voted for TWO parking towers several years back. One is to be constructed on the main South Campus and the next will be on the North Athletic/Research Campus!!!

Turbine has the BEST idea!! Build the parking tower OVER the intersection of Cajundome Blvd and West Congress!! That is place ONE leg on each of the FOUR corners of this intersection!!! This would SAVE space be innovative and be really cool!!!!

Alright, give it up CDeb and all you other engineers!!!

DaddyCajun

[ulforlife]

417 spots seem like even less when you consider that half of them will be reserved for faculty.

The spots will turnover twice a day which is 834 a day. Also, they will mostly be used for faculty which will allow more spots around buildings to be opened for students.

[BrockMeaux]

The only problem with faculty using up the spots in the new parking tower is that yes, it frees up more spots around buildings, but those are all zoned by particular permits, and unless you are a faculty member, you can't get those. People that live in dorms have permits for spots near their dorm and there's a lottery every year for some of the peripheral parking lots on the edges of campus, but unless they change the entire parking and transit system, I don't see how faculty taking up those new spots helps us. They could make the around-building spots free and first come, first serve, but that would eliminate the revenue they generate from their rediculous $20-a-pop parking tickets, or they could possibly eliminate the lottery and just put up all of the spots (peripheral and mid-campus) for sale on a first come first serve basis, which would generate a lot of initial monies, but parking tickets would probably see a sharp decline.

Sorry for the rant, but I've had more than my fair share of run-ins with the "Parking Nazis," as we affectionately call them. Most of the tickets are my fault but the whole parking situation is just so frustrating.

[Kal]

There is plans for a parking tower at Cajun Field! The students voted for TWO parking towers several years back. One is to be constructed on the main South Campus and the next will be on the North Athletic/Research Campus!!!

Turbine has the BEST idea!! Build the parking tower OVER the intersection of Cajundome Blvd and West Congress!! That is place ONE leg on each of the FOUR corners of this intersection!!! This would SAVE space be innovative and be really cool!!!!

Alright, give it up CDeb and all you other engineers!!!

DaddyCajun

But how on earth would you shut down cajundome blvd. and congress for that long to construct it. I don't think the city would allow it.

[Turbine]

But how on earth would you shut down Cajundome blvd. and congress for that long to construct it. I don't think the city would allow it.

Ah that is why I am calling on the Legendary "Design Students" of UL.

Personally, I think it could be done without shutting down Congress or Cajun Dome boulevard. Though for it to be done without major disruption it would take night work.

The innermost support would need to be provided by 6 massive stanchions 3 on each side of Congress with the center one being in center section of the boulevard. If a design can't be worked out with those posts providing the inner support then the only other option would be traffic disruption.

With the center stanchions in place, I could see structural beams and perhaps preformed concrete walls being hoisted into place with little or no disruption to traffic.

[CDeb]

Ah that is why I am calling on the Legendary "Design Students" of UL.

Personally, I think it could be done without shutting down Congress or Cajun Dome boulevard. Though for it to be done without major disruption it would take night work.

The innermost support would need to be provided by 6 massive stanchions 3 on each side of Congress with the center one being in center section of the boulevard. If a design can't be worked out with those posts providing the inner support then the only other option would be traffic disruption.

With the center stanchions in place, I could see structural beams and perhaps preformed concrete walls being hoisted into place with little or no disruption to traffic.

I think the major challenge is not technical, but political. You're talking about building a university-owned facility on city right-of-way, which they aren't going to relinquish because, oh yeah, Congress Street is still going to be there. I just don't like the prospects of them "playing nice" in such a scenario.

I don't like it from a traffic engineering standpoint for two reasons:
1) It kills sight distances at a very busy, high-speed intersection.
2) It increases traffic attraction to a facility with exits close to intersections, which is bad for traffic flow and safety.

Then we're talking about a structure that would cost significantly more than a structure built on an empty lot. The extra material and labor expense of building a structure to span a major roadway is significant, and then you add the extra cost of traffic management during construction.

While it's a neat idea, I don't like the feasibility.

[ljr3721]

There is plans for a parking tower at Cajun Field!

Are you serious? That has to be the biggest waste of money I've ever seen! There is PLENTY of parking at Cajun Field! And if it gets to the point that all of it is filled, there's always Blackham and the grassy area across Congress street.

About six times a year, a handful of football fans would have to take 5 minutes longer to get to the stadium. Maybe even (gasp) have to take a 2-minute shuttle bus ride. And that is a significant enough problem to spend MILLIONS of dollars on a parking garage?!?

[CDeb]

Are you serious? That has to be the biggest waste of money I've ever seen! There is PLENTY of parking at Cajun Field! And if it gets to the point that all of it is filled, there's always Blackham and the grassy area across Congress street.

About six times a year, a handful of football fans would have to take 5 minutes longer to get to the stadium. Maybe even (gasp) have to take a 2-minute shuttle bus ride. And that is a significant enough problem to spend MILLIONS of dollars on a parking garage?!?

Agreed. Cajun Field needs a parking garage like it needs an expansion to 90,000 seats.