Parking and Transportation Services has signed a contract for the design and construction of a new parking garage.

Greg Sylvester, director of Parking and Transportation Services, said the garage will be constructed on the existing Gold Lot One on Willow Drive, behind the Student Services building and in front of the Library. A temporary lot will open to compensate for the lost spaces.

“Like with any construction, there will be congestion,” Sylvester said. “Students should be patient and plan their trips to and from campus carefully, and remember, there will always be parking on the North side of campus.”

According to Sylvester, the majority of the construction will occur during July and August of this year and next year. He said the garage should be available for use no later than the fall of 2004.

He added that the complete design for the garage is not finalized, and the plan will be a work in progress as the construction occurs. However, Sylvester said the proposed plan for the garage has five floors and gives non-resident students approximately 900 additional parking spaces out of the 1,200 total.

Omar Khan, student body president, said students have waited long enough for this garage construction to commence.

“(The new garage) is long overdue ,and we are really glad and excited about it,” Khan said. “(SG’s) current role in the garage construction is to ensure all the deadlines are met and that the garage will best serve the students’ needs.”

Students do not need to worry about emptying their pockets to make additional payments for the new garage construction, Sylvester said.

“The students have already paid for the garage with the increase (in parking fees) from the past two years,” Sylvester said. “The money is already in the budget along with bond money and cash for the parking program and, because we are an auxiliary, (the new garage cost) doesn’t affect the general USF budget.”

More information, including the preliminary designs and the construction details of the garage, is available at http://isis2.admin.usf.edu/parking_services/garage.asp .