Parking difficulties also exist on UNM's north campus, where several major construction projects are calling for the elimination of a number of M Lot parking spaces.
Philip Eaton, vice president of UNM's Health Sciences, announced more than six months ago the plans for the projects, admitting that each of them will significantly influence parking patterns in both the short and long-term.
"Every parking permit area and customer group will be affected in some way," Eaton said in a University news release.
The first of these projects is the construction of the Research Incubator Building on the parking lot east of the Surge Building. The two-story, pre-engineered building will house a variety of laboratory programs, Eaton said.
Josh Kavanagh, associate director of UNM's Parking and Transportation Services, said the construction has eliminated 29 parking spaces in the lot.
Kavanagh said the key to people with M Lot permits finding parking is to be resourceful and research all their parking options.
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"Parking is available within your zone," Kavanagh said. "The M zone is comprised of 13 parking areas. From the majority of these lots, the Redondo Shuttle takes customers within reasonable proximity of facilities in eastern M Lot."
Due to the construction constraints, north campus parking lot Zone K has also been "absorbed" into M Lot.
M Lot passes had been issued for this semester only, as plans for the second building were being finalized and it was unclear what access would be available to the lot, but it has been announced that construction will not begin until June 2004, allowing for the renewal of M Lot permits for the spring.
Kavanagh said that while the construction has displaced just over 1 percent of the 1,500 M Lot permit spaces, he said it has made parking in east M Lot challenging.
He said representatives from Parking and Transportation Services, HSC Facility Planning and the office of the Vice President for Health Sciences are working to replace as many of the parking spaces lost as possible.
"Fortunately, the way the buildings will be located on the site should provide an opportunity to recapture some space for parking when the construction fence comes down," Kavanagh said.
