Student arrivals will cause some parking congestion

Photo: Greg Grieco With Penn State students returning to campus Aug. 21-24, some traffic and parking congestion is expected, and some temporary parking changes will be implemented.

Of the 42,000 or so undergraduate and graduate students scheduled to arrive between Aug. 21 and 24, roughly 13,000 will be moving into residence halls and apartments on University Park campus. As in the past few years, this year's student arrival will begin during the work week and continue through the weekend. This will result in considerable roadway and parking lot congestion.

In order to minimize the stress and chaos experienced by the students and their families during this move-in, faculty and staff are asked to do whatever they can to help. To make things easier for these students and their parents as they carry load after heavy load of belongings into the residence halls, the University Parking Office is trying to make as much parking available to them near the residence halls as possible.

To accomplish this, the following adjustments will be made to parking areas across campus beginning Thursday Aug. 21:

Police Services will begin barricading core student parking areas, and posting "No Overnight Parking" signs.  These areas will be regulated for unloading only.

Yellow J

-- Yellow J permit holders are asked to park in the HUB Parking Deck  Aug. 21-24. 

East Deck

-- In the East Deck (Yellow D) the bottom floor and the west bay (closest to the elevators) on levels 2 and 3 will be reserved for the unloading of student/parent vehicles beginning Aug. 21. Faculty and staff, contractor permit holders, and Office of Physical Plant vehicles are asked to park on the upper levels and away from the affected areas. In addition to the parking adjustments in the East Deck, one of the entry lanes and one of the exit lanes will be used for the moving of belongings from the vehicles to the dorms.  

Green D and Green G

-- One section of Green D (closest to North Halls) and both sections of Green G will be reserved for the unloading of student/parent vehicles.

-- Green G permits will be valid in YD (East Deck) Aug. 21-24. The use of the one section of Green D will still allow enough space to accommodate Green D permit holders, so no overflow area will be required.

Brown E and Green C

-- Due to changes on Curtin Road; students moving in to Irvin Hall will need to use Lot Brown E for unloading. To lessen the congestion during the full arrival on Saturday and Sunday, students residing in Irvin Hall have been invited to move in on Friday, Aug. 22. To help alleviate traffic congestion in the lot, and account for the students that will inevitably move in a little early; Brown E and Green C permit holders are asked to park in the Nittany Parking Deck Aug. 21-24.

HUB Deck (Yellow C)

-- On Aug. 21-24, the first bay on the ground floor (transponder only entrance) will reserved for unloading only. Vehicles entering to unload will enter and exit through the transponder entrance.

-- All Yellow C permit holders will enter/exit through the Kiosk. Parking will only be allowed down to the east end of the first up ramp from the ground floor. Cones/barricades will be in place to indicate the reserved area. 

Yellow T

-- Due to expected heavy use of the Yellow T parking lots; Yellow T permit holders are asked to park in Eisenhower Parking Deck Aug. 21–24. 

-- After unloading, parents and students will be directed to move their vehicles to Lot 44 or Stadium West. The only exception will be those unloading at West Halls. They also will have the option of parking at the Nittany Deck. The $1 per hour fee for parking will apply on Friday Aug. 22. There will be no charge for parking in the Nittany Parking Deck on Saturday, Aug. 23, and Sunday, Aug. 24.