SCOTT GULLEDGE / Scroll
Parking lot closures on the north end of campus force more students and faculty to look for available parking on the south end.

Construction on campus closes off parking lots

Aaron Benson BEN01015@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

As building construction across the BYU-Idaho campus continues this fall semester, returning students and faculty will find it a little harder to obtain a comfortable parking spot.

Projects on the Eliza R. Snow and John L. Clarke Buildings will continue into the semester. Both projects are on the campus’s north end, which has a historically high demand for parking, with limited space.

According to a parking survey conducted on campus last November, during the peak hours, from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., student permit parking on the north side averaged 88 percent occupancy, while on the south side it averaged only 59 percent. Similar differences existed for non-permit street-side parking.

Due to construction on the Snow Building, the entire Snow parking lot has been closed. said, “The entry into the Snow Lot is scheduled to be opened Aug. 29,” said Charles Andersen, director of the Physical Facilities Department, which oversees campus construction. However, he said, “only a small portion of the lot will be available until the Snow addition project is complete.” The project does not yet have a definite date of completion.

Construction on the Clarke Building was scheduled to be finished in time for fall classes to begin, but is behind schedule.

While construction continues, the Clarke parking lot, which has 50 stalls and is reserved for faculty and staff, will remain closed.

The building will reopen for classes Sept. 12, Andersen said, while the new Clarke Testing Center will be completed later in the semester.

The east side of 2nd East, formerly available for general parking, was closed by the city, said Captain Garth Gunderson of the BYU-Idaho Division of the Rexburg Police Department. Now, only the west side of the street will be available for parking.

On the positive side, crews are installing a new 30-stall parking lot on the west side of the football stadium.

Capt. Gunderson, who oversees the enforcement of campus parking, said that a new faculty parking lot is currently under construction on the south side of the Mark Austin Technology/Engineering Building.

An expansion of the Physical Plant parking lot is also underway, which will allow more faculty parking. These new lots should ease the burden created by the closures on the north end.

Another new parking lot is under construction just south of the existing Hinckley parking lot. The new parking lots will be available for permit holders by early October, Andersen said.

Capt. Gunderson said students who live within two or three blocks of campus should plan on walking to class. Students that have to drive to school and will arrive in the late morning or early afternoon should begin looking on the south side of campus. He said 1st West, Center Street and the Hinckley Lot are the best options.

Even at peak hours, campus parking has never exceeded 75 percent occupancy, Gunderson said.

So even with a small, anticipated rise in enrollment from last year to this year, there will be available parking for students and faculty this fall semester — it just might be a little out of the way.