Shuttles are bringing faculty, staff, and students to campus from a nearby parking lot to relieve parking space shortages caused by slashed lots.
The five additional parking lots that closed this week to make way for construction, totaling 223 spaces lost, caused tension to grow among students, faculty, and staff who already struggle to find parking spaces.
In response, the College opened a new 75-space lot off of Orange Avenue and will provide a shuttle to go back and forth to campus. The lot is called “Progress Point” and is located at 1241 Palmetto Ave., which is about a mile from campus, near Foxtail Coffee.
The 28-passenger shuttle will have two stops: one at Tars Plaza and one at the corner of Park Ave. and Holt Ave. The whole loop will take about 25 minutes, and the shuttle will operate continuously from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Rollins is attempting to secure a second parking lot to further mitigate the campus’ parking impairments, which would have an additional 100 spaces for daytime use, according to Ken Miller, assistant vice president of public safety.
“While not preferable, these off-campus lots will provide some level of relief until the construction of the Ollie garage is complete, Miller said. “The College has worked hard to provide alternatives to members of the campus community.”
Miller asked that students use Progress Point and the SunTrust Garage as their first parking options before trying to circle campus in search of spaces.
However, this does not satisfy some students. “It doesn’t seem like they really care what we think,” said student David Zebersky (‘20). “Parking is already a pain. There’s no way I’m parking a mile away from campus and waiting 25 minutes for a shuttle.”
The All Saints Church and Keke’s Breakfast Cafe parking lots will be open for students to use between 4 p.m. and 7 a.m. Monday-Friday. These locations provide 100 additional parking spaces during the evening.
The five lot closures include the lot behind McKean Hall, Olin Library, parking at the Lyman building, the Ollie Lot in front of the Sutton Place Apartments, and connecting parking that extends from the new location of Campus Safety to the Cornell Fine Arts Museum (CFAM).
More specifically, the McKean lot is being closed for construction of the Lakeside Residential Complex. The Olin Library parking lot is closed for construction base operations for the Mills Memorial Hall project. The 203 E. Lyman Ave. lot will be used for housing the athletic department and Center for Leadership & Community Engagement buses. The Ollie parking lot is where the new parking garage is being built.
The final closure will include the Tiedtke Way and Connecting Parking, located at the roadway from Dinky Dock to just before the CFAM circle, which will be used to facilitate construction-related traffic away from campus.
A boardwalk is being constructed from Sutton Place along Tiedtke way to facilitate access to the rest of campus.
“The hope is that this will keep pedestrian traffic off of Fairbanks Avenue, and make it safer and easier to move around the construction in the area,” said Miller.
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