With 18,152 parking spaces on main, Centennial and the Vet school campuses and 33,000 students, the Department of Transportation is planning a parking deck on West Lot to help ease the parking headache.

Director of Transportation Tom Kendig said the project has been in design for several months now.  

“We hope to put the bids out at the first of next year,” he said.

According to Kendig, the lot would hold roughly 850 spaces in the upper part. This would create 421 new spaces, as some spaces on the surface would be lost.  

In Your Words: Is an expansion of West Lot necessary?

Gregory Cain, assistant director for parking services, said some of the funding for the project would come from the Talley fee increase.  

“Money for the project is coming from reserve money and future projects, one of which is the Talley expansion,” he said.

The project will be financed by Transportation, and Kendig said officials are working the budget to find a way to fit it in.

When construction on campus interferes with parking, Transportation receives money for future projects and puts it in a reserve account so all projects pay for any parking they potentially impact.

Kendig said Talley is expected to have a big contribution, and that without the money from Talley, the budget would have to be reexamined.

“Talley is supposed to contribute nearly $2 million, if that does not pass we will have to take a real close look at what will happen,” he said.

The options to receive money if Talley does not pass are limited. They include eliminating some of the capacity of the new deck, or build it “bare bones.”

Kenig said plans are being reviewed by the State Construction Office and expects the project will continue to be projected to start late spring.

Cain said the spring is an outside possibility.

“This project is still up in the air, but if things fall into place there is an outside possibility it could start later in the spring,” he said.

Hillsborough renovations will have no effect on the deck, according to Cain.

“That is sponsored by a different branch and funded by different sources, that will have no effect on the deck,” he said.

Fahad Majeed, a junior in accounting, said the parking deck is good because permits run out quickly so the added parking will be beneficial.

“People need places to park and when permits in the normal West Lot run out students have to either get the pass for permit lots by Wolf Village or park and ride,” he said.