University hopes to expand dorm parking by August

Construction workers have ripped up the Towers residence hall parking lot and dug into a hillside as part of a project to expand parking for Southeast Missouri State University's high-rise dormitories -- a move school officials say should ease the parking crunch by this fall.

The $3.1 million project includes construction of a two-level concrete parking deck with brick veneer just to the north of the existing lot -- the first such parking structure in the history of Southeast. The project also includes a new entrance/exit drive for the entire parking area and a widening of Sprigg Street that will provide for a left-turn lane into the lot, school officials said.

When completed, the project -- funded with bonds issued by the university -- will nearly double the number of available parking spaces to 614. The parking structure will have 212 and the adjoining parking lot will have 402, said Neil Zlokovich, project manager for the university.

Southeast is pushing to get much of the project -- 300 spaces in the parking lot -- completed by August so students will have a place to park for the start of the fall semester. Classes start Aug. 25.

A tight schedule

The rest of the project, including the parking deck, is scheduled to be finished by Sept. 26, Zlokovich said. He admits it's a tight fit for the contractor, Artisan Contracting Inc., and that the project might extend into October.

But, Zlokovich said, that's not a problem as long as most of the parking lot spaces are ready in August.

Larissa Holmes of Jennings, Mo., hopes the project doesn't drag out.

Holmes, who will be returning to Southeast as a sophomore, doesn't relish moving into her sixth-floor Towers West room if the parking isn't done.

"That would be a mess," she said.

Holmes said she's thrilled the university is taking steps to expand student parking. Holmes, like other freshmen in the Towers complex last school year, had to park in a lot on New Madrid Street several blocks from the residence halls.

"It would be nice if I could park in front of Towers," she said.

Not enough for everyone

Even with the expanded parking, school officials say there won't be enough parking in the Towers lot for all the students who live in the four high-rise residence halls and the nearby fraternity and sorority buildings.

The university will begin issuing parking lot permits this summer, school officials said.

The new entrance and exit to the lot will be south of the old entrance. The old exit, atop a hill on the south side of the parking area, will be turned into an entrance for delivery trucks.

School officials said the new entrance/exit drive will have a lane for entering traffic and a lane for exiting traffic. The drive will be landscaped.

The expanded and reshaped parking lot will have concrete islands and asphalt pavement. "As parking lots go, this is going to be a nice parking lot," Zlokovich said.

Beth Glaus, parking and transit manager for Southeast, said the new lot will be a major improvement over the winding rows of parking that had been squeezed into the area. "It will be more of a parking lot, not just a lot of parking," she said.

Like the surface parking, the parking deck spaces will be reserved primarily for students.

Zlokovich said the parking deck or garage will be built into the sloping ground just south of the Cottonwood Treatment Center.

Motorists will enter on the lower level on the east side of the concrete parking structure and on the upper level on the west side of the structure.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123