Parking Upgrade: Parking Counters Installed

The newest addition to UWG’s parking lots are called parking lot counters.  

Speed bumps located in Lot 30, Lot 4 and the Tyus parking lots monitor cars coming in and out to keep track of open parking lots. The amount of spots are then shown on displays, which run on solar power and are a part of the Green Initiative program.   

“The parking spots in Tyus parking lot are underutilized,” said Wade Crenshaw, manager of Parking Services. “Most students ride around campus in search of a parking spot because majority of the convenient spaces located near the bookstore all filled up from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m.”  

An option that has been frequently suggested by UWG students, to potentially improve parking on campus, is to build a parking deck. While a parking lot usually holds 350 spaces, a parking deck could hold twice as many, however the cost would be substantially more.  

“The cost to build a parking deck would be $400,000,” said Crenshaw.  

With that high of a price to build a parking deck that would mean students fees could possibly be bumped up. While the new parking lot counters were budgeted with the student fees and help from the Green Initiative program. 

Parking Services has heard positive feedback pertaining to the parking counters but have also heard the complaints about the accuracy of the devices. 

“Lot 4 has had issues with saying there are spots left but really there were not any,” said Crenshaw. “With anything that is installed new there is always the chance of there being issues. Also, the parking lot counters are still in the beginning stages.”  

The purpose behind the parking lot counters is to show students that there is not necessarily a need for more parking spots. There is a plan to install these counters in more parking lots around campus. 

“I am just trying to relieve some of the stress,” says Crenshaw. “Trying to find parking on campus is an issue that everyone has to deal with whether you are a student or a faculty member but the new parking counters are here to relieve some of the stress.”