UNH focuses on long-term transportation, parking goals

By Lori Wright, Media Relations

UNH has approved a new parking fee structure that will help support the university’s growing transportation and parking needs over the long term.

The fee changes were approved by UNH President Ann Weaver Hart, and are in keeping with the principles of a zoned parking system and demand management set forth by the Transportation Policy Committee (TPC).

The changes will result in an increase in faculty/staff parking permits from $32 to $50 per year to park on the Durham campus. Employees working at remote facilities, such as the Jackson Lab, and commuter students also will pay $50. Employees will be able to pay for permits through pre-tax payroll deduction.

“The floor has been raised to $50. It sets an equitable and fair broad-based fee structure that the university will build upon to make improvements,” said Stephen Pesci, director of special projects for campus master planning.

However, the increase will not result in UNH adding a new parking garage anytime soon.

“The TPC worked very hard to develop a fee structure that would support the funding of at least one parking structure in the reasonable near term. However, because the approved fee increases will not generate the revenue needed to construct this structure within the next few years, we have included it in our long-range master plan. We will continue to pursue all possible funding strategies so that the entire community can eventually benefit from this aspect of the master plan,” said Candace Corvey, vice president for finance and administration.

“As a campus community, we have spent two years productively discussing our parking and transportation options. We have developed a comprehensive, phased plan for improvements. The TPC process has been very successful and has put in place a more rational foundation for determining parking prices and revenue,” Corvey said.

Reserved parking permit holders will see the largest fee increase, with core campus reserved permits increasing $500 to $1,000 July 1, 2004. According to Pesci, the TPC wanted to reduce the number of reserved spaces. “We were concerned that too many spaces were being set aside, and we wanted to reduce that trend,” he said.

Permits for students living on campus will rise from $300 to $350 a year.

On July 1, a key change in faculty/staff permits — the reclassification of graduate teaching and research assistants as commuter students – goes into effect. This will decrease the number of faculty/staff permit holders by about 450 and result in relief to faculty and staff parking stress in core campus. Commuter students can expect to find additional space in A-Lot and other shared lots as faculty and staff shift to spaces freed up in the core lots. Efforts are under way toward a decision to add a total of 120 spaces, some at Mast Road and some at West Edge, by the start of the next academic year to benefit commuter students.

The Student Transportation Fee has demonstrated successful new services during the course of the year and has been renewed by the Student Senate with a 40 percent increase in the coming year from $35 to $49. This fee has paid for additional transportation services focused on student needs.

The TPC has developed a step-by-step improvement plan for parking that is tied to the master plan. “It lays out our current improvement plan for parking in a prioritized, phased basis over the course of the Campus Master Plan horizon. This planning and investment seems to be paying off. I believe the improvements completed in the past year, increased transit service, an improved intersection at College and Main, have resulted in less traffic congestion on campus. The situation is better and we’re going to keep making it better,” said Anthony Zizos, Assistant vice president for business affairs, to whom Transportation Services reports.

For more information on the TPC and its report, visit http://www.unh.edu/transportation/TPC/.