UMass Boston Closes Original Parking Garage

July 20, 2006

BOSTON, MA – University of Massachusetts Boston Chancellor Michael F. Collins, MD announced today that the original interior parking facility on campus was closed on Wednesday, July 19, 2006.

The campus will be able to accommodate all summer session students, faculty and staff in outdoor parking facilities and the parking garage located beneath the new Campus Center. The campus has devised a new Parking and Transportation Plan for the fall semester, when the commuter institution enrolls approximately 12,000 students.

“Our top priority is the safety of our students, faculty and staff, as well as visitors to our campus,” Collins said. “While vacating the use of the garage was imminent because of ongoing repairs and escalating costs, we have chosen to implement the change during the relative quiet of the summer months. In September, we will implement a Parking and Transportation program to serve our full-scale operations.”

The campus substructure serves as a foundation to five campus buildings and a 1,500-car garage. Several studies have been done showing that poor construction and salt water infusions have eroded steel and concrete materials in sections of the substructure. The engineering firm Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger reports the facility remains a structurally sound foundation. Campus officials determined it is no longer a viable parking facility given the loss of nearly 600 spaces to repair efforts, as well as the re-routing of original vehicle and pedestrian traffic patterns.

Approximately half of the people who come to campus on a daily basis take public transportation. In the summer, approximately 1,200 cars park on campus daily. The university has enough available spaces to serve the summer session students.

During the university’s full-time operations, between 3,100 and 3,500 cars park each day. In preparation for the start of the fall semester, the university is refining its Parking and Transportation plan. Options to supplement the existing outdoor parking include placing temporary parking on vacant campus parcels, contracting with off-site lots, and encouraging more people to take public transportation. The university will work closely with neighborhood groups, representatives from the MBTA and local officials to discuss these options.

In the short term, the closure directly affects the approximately 3,000 students who attend summer classes through the Division of Continuing, Corporate and Distance Education (CCDE). These students and their faculty are being notified that they must park in the outdoor parking lots, or in the garage beneath the new Campus Center.

“I understand these parking restrictions may inconvenience some students and employees, but the university will undertake a program to ensure that people who need assistance receive courteous and prompt help from our university staff,” Collins said. “We encourage students and staff to take public transportation and the free shuttle bus service provided by the campus from the JFK/UMass MBTA station.”

In the past year, the university, Simpson, Gumpertz & Heger engineers, the University of Massachusetts President’s Office and the Division of Capital Asset Management assessed the full scope of rehabilitating the structure and worked closely with the governor’s office, lawmakers and state officials to pursue funding. Simultaneously, the university has spent approximately $1 million to remove any loose debris, install shoring supports and re-direct pedestrian and automobile traffic throughout the substructure.

"Closing the UMass Boston parking garage is the right step to take at this time. We have worked hard to keep this parking facility safe, but we now recognize that the garage will not figure in the campus's long-term parking plans, so we take this step in the interest of public safety," UMass President Jack M. Wilson said. "The safety of our students, faculty, staff and visitors always comes first, and we make this decision guided by that paramount consideration. I commend Chancellor Collins and Commissioner David Perini of DCAM for working so diligently to address what has been a chronic problem at the Boston campus. Working together, we have formulated an approach that puts public safety first and will address UMass Boston's long-term needs."

The campus has worked to respond to deterioration of the substructure since the late 1980s, but the deterioration has outpaced those efforts and available funding. The most recent study indicates rehabilitating the substructure would cost in excess of $150 million, and therefore is not feasible. A stabilization project, currently estimated at $25 million, has been proposed for the foundation for the long-term.

“We realize how important the issue of the parking garage has been to the UMass Boston community,” said DCAM Commissioner David B. Perini. “We see this as an important and very positive milestone in the long-term effort to address the situation, and we will continue to support Chancellor Collins and his staff in any way we can going forward.”

The campus will continue to work closely with the President’s office, DCAM, and consulting engineers on a long-term solution to the substructure repair needs. That work will be incorporated into the university’s master planning process, which has just begun, Collins said.