The University of New Haven Community returned in the fall to see the many improvements that have been made to the parking system over the summer. 

The start of the academic year typically means changes and improvements all throughout campus. This year, the parking program has seen some significant renovations.

According to an email sent out by Ronald Quagliani, Associate Vice President of Public Safety and Administrative Services, the university has added a total of 85 commuter parking spaces, and 77 paid faculty parking spaces. Quagliani also said that a parking garage with 80 residential parking spaces has opened up under the recently finished Westside Hall.

Other improvements include a resurfaced Prudden Street parking lot and an upgraded North Campus parking lot, which includes new pavement, markings, sidewalks and lighting. The university also added 30 and 60-minute parking spaces for short-term visits to the university.The email by Quagliani also noted that the Bethel Hall parking lot has been repurposed as a grass quad as part of the Bethel Hall renovation project. Due to this change, the BucknallTheater shuttle stop has been relocated to the Kaplan Hall parking lot.

“There is clearly never enough parking, but I think we made great strides over the summer with parking upgrades,” Quagliani said. “We have a bigger residential population on campus now with more upper classmen, some of the more traditional residential halls are now open to upperclassmen.”

Quagliani said that the university is always looking for new parking and that a verbal agreement has been made with the new magnet school that is going to be starting construction on the west side of the campus. He said that when the school is complete, there will be over 200 additional parking spaces that can be utilized on the schools off hours. He noted that this would help the late afternoon and evening students find a parking spot.

“We are also in the design phase of a 200 car parking lot on the perimeter of campus, across from Bergami Hall on the corner of Route One and Hoffman Street,” Quagliani said. This lot is still going through the approval stages, but is expected to open by the end of Spring 2015, the latest being Fall 2015.

Quagliani said he understands how frustrating it can be when Maxcy or any other main campus parking lot is blocked off or restricted because of large events in the middle of the academic week. This year, people who are coming to these events will be instructed to park at satellite lots and will then be shuttled onto main campus. He noted that this arrangement wouldn’t be for all events, but most.

“I’m glad parking has improved since last semester. It’s a step in the right direction,” said Daniel Smith, a sophomore commuter. “We complained and they delivered, but I still think they should build a multilevel parking garage.”

Christina Tomarelli, a senior commuter, said, “I’m optimistic that parking will be better this year; it’s nice that the administration has alleviated some of the stress associated with parking.”

Quagliani reminds students, faculty, and staff to check out newhaven.edu/parking for maps, regulations, and other parking related info.

“We recognize that parking is a priority for everyone; if you are having a hard time finding a place to park it’s very difficult to get yourself into the right frame of mind for learning or instruction,” Quagliani said.

“It’s a great thing that the University has grown so much, so fast… but we are playing catch up in some areas, and one of those areas is parking. We recognize that we have made progress, but that there is still work to do.”