A new parking garage at Mississippi State University should help alleviate some of the campus’ parking strains in the coming years, according to university officials.
MSU officially announced the $12 million, 500-space garage on Thursday after it received approval from the state Institutions of Higher Learning board. The new garage will be built on the north side of campus next to Howell Hall.
MSU Parking and Transit Services Director Jeremiah Dumas said the university contracted with a consultant in 2015 to evaluate the campus’ parking demand and capacity. He said MSU wanted to get data on parking utilization and how to prepare for growing demand. After that, he said, the office of Parking and Transit Services worked with the provost’s office to project student and faculty and staff growth.
“At the end of that study, it showed us that we needed to add around 500 parking spaces on campus and we needed to do it somewhere in the 2018-2019 time frame because, based on the projections and the trends, that’s when we would really be at a point where we needed it,” Dumas said. “One interesting thing is the growth has actually happened quicker, at a higher trajectory than we projected. We’re really at a point where we’ve got to have some spaces on campus.”
While parking is a concern on campus, Dumas said the university also had to consider a new parking facility’s impact on traffic, which he described as a “real problem.” The new parking garage will be located just south of Baily Howell Drive, which Dumas said is a roadway that’s large enough to handle the additional traffic the garage may generate.
The location also puts the garage in a position to support needed parking on the north side of campus for locations such as the Sanderson Student Health Center. It’s also situated close to Davis Wade Stadium, the Humphrey Coliseum and Dudy Noble Field to support gameday traffic.
Dumas said he hopes to break ground on the new facility shortly after the new year.
According to a university press release, Tupelo-based McCarty Architects is designing the garage, with assistance from national planning and design firm Kimley-Horn.
The garage will include solar panels, according to the release, and will generate more electricity than it uses.
MSU currently has about 15,000 parking spaces on campus, Dumas said. With the parking garage and another planned 350-spot parking lot on the south side of campus near the Fresh Food Company, Dumas said MSU will add more than 800 new parking spaces in the next year.
“We have another project that’s under design that’s about to go through to construction on the south side of campus,” Dumas said. “It’s not a garage, but it’s a large surface parking lot that’s strategically located and helping with traffic in an area where we need some additional parking.”
MSU President Mark Keenum, in the university press release, said he was thankful to the IHL board for approving the project.
“Because of the steady arc of growth in our enrollment, parking has been one of our constant challenges on campus,” Keenum said. “We’re grateful for the IHL Board’s vision in supporting our efforts to manage that growth in parking demand with an impactful solution that will serve all our stakeholders.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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