UT Dallas parking garage rendering

The University's first covered parking garage opens for business this semester, northeast of the Naveen Jindal School of Management. A second garage is planned for fall 2014.

The north side of the UT Dallas campus will undergo a major overhaul in the next 18 months that will reroute traffic and affect some parking locations, but the payoff will be huge.

By fall 2014, the campus will boast a new 600-bed Student Housing Complex and a second covered parking structure that will also include 15,000 feet of retail space. By that time, construction also will have begun on a new bioengineering and sciences building, and a north campus mall renovation will provide a greener and more park-like environment.

“Our goal is to enhance the entire campus experience so that it supports the high-caliber research opportunities and top-level college experience that UT Dallas provides. We certainly want to minimize the inconvenience to students, staff and faculty as best we can, knowing that the finished product will be a source of pride for generations to come,” said Dr. Calvin Jamison, vice president for administration.

The scale of the changes will be familiar to anyone who’s been around campus for very long. Students who are upperclassmen now enjoy a very different campus than when they first arrived as freshmen just a few years ago.

Consider that this fall, UT Dallas will unveil:

UT Dallas parking map for Fall 2013

Click to enlarge:  A map of campus shows where new parking areas are open or will soon be under construction.

As might be expected, each phase of construction will impact traffic and parking options to be able to ensure safety of the campus community. Although there will be enough spaces, many parking locations will shift temporarily from the north end of campus to the northeast or south ends.

Lot L was removed in mid-August to accommodate construction on a new parking garage at Rutford Avenue and Loop Road. Those who have used Lot L are being redirected to park in Lots A and B on the northeast side of campus off Floyd Road until the new parking structure is completed in fall 2014.

Meanwhile, free Comet Cab campus shuttles will help transport students, staff and faculty from Lots A and B to other parts of campus.

Also this summer, a segment of Loop Road, from Rutford Avenue to Lot R near the Administration Building, was reconfigured to remove the median in accordance with Richardson city requirements for emergency vehicle access. That segment of Loop Road has now reopened.

During the 2013-14 winter break, Lot P on the northeast corner of Rutford and Loop Road will permanently close to accommodate construction of the new Bioengineering and Sciences Building near the Natural Science and Engineering Research Lab (NSERL).

To accommodate drivers who currently use Lot P, about 120 faculty and staff parking spaces have been added in Lot T across Rutford from NSERL. Also, two additional rows of student parking will provide a total of nearly 400 resident student parking spaces in Lot T. Most of the parking from Lot P, however, will be redirected to Lots A and B.

Ongoing projects on the south end of campus also have prompted a few changes. Lot Q, at the corner of Drives A and G, has been removed to accommodate construction of the School of Management addition.

However, two new parking areas on the south end of campus this fall will add about 1,200 new spaces.

  • Parking Structure I, a covered parking facility across Drive A from Lot Q, will provide 750 parking spaces in all permit categories. 
  • Lot U, a new parking lot south of the baseball fields near Campbell Road, will add about 500 “Green” and “E-Parking” spaces.
Residence Hall rendering, UT Dallas

Plans call for a 600-bed Student Housing Complex to open in 2014.

Pedestrian traffic in the mid-mall area will be enhanced when the Edith O’Donnell Arts and Technology Building opens this fall, and pathways are re-established along Drive B, between McDermott Library and the new building, and along Drive F, on the east side of the building.

Also, a new entrance to Loop Road is now open on the southwest side of campus, from Tatum Road off Waterview Parkway to Lot U near the soccer fields. This will be the third entrance to campus off Waterview, in addition to Drives A and L. Signage on Waterview will direct traffic to specific parking lots on campus.

Other projects slated for 2014 include the north end of the campus enhancement plan designed by PWP Landscape Architecture. The south end of the mall, complete with 5,000 trees and five fountains, was completed in 2010. The north end redesign will involve the pathway from the McDermott Library to the Administration Building.

“Anyone who was here in 2009 when we worked on the south end of the mall will remember what that looked like. But just like back then, the payoff will be worth all the effort when students, staff and faculty see a campus in which they can take pride,” said Rick Dempsey, associate vice president for facilities management.

For current information on construction projects, follow on Twitter @UTDConstruction or check Pardon our Progress updates. For the latest updates on parking, follow on Twitter @UTDallasParking or subscribe to email updates.