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Come to YSU early when parking deck closes, official urges
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Ron Williams of SMCI Construction checks and marks the upper deck of the M2 Lincoln Avenue parking deck at Youngstown State University. The places being marked will be dug up and replaced. The deck will close Monday through Aug. 29 for repairs.
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Dave Goettsch and Makeda Mosley, who both work for VXI Global Solutions, try not to get muddy as they walk to work from a free parking lot at the Covelli Centre in downtown Youngstown.
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
Beginning next week, finding a parking spot on campus will be more difficult for Youngstown State University students, staff and visitors.
The 1,300-space M2 Lincoln Avenue parking deck will close Monday for repairs. Plans call for it to reopen for the start of fall classes Aug. 29.
“That’s why we’re starting early so we can open it for the fall,” said Danny O’Connell, YSU’s director of support services.
The $4.5 million project will repair the entrance and exit ramps on the deck’s east and west sides, reseal the roof and seal the remainder of the structure to prevent water infiltration. Supports that hold the deck in place will also be replaced.
Suburban Construction of Cleveland is the general contractor.
“Some people may want to try to get to campus a little early next week,” O’Connell said.
Through the end of spring semester, May 13, parking will be available at the Covelli Centre on Front Street. Shuttle buses will run between the center and Lincoln Avenue between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.
O’Connell said more than 1,500 spaces are available to YSU in the center’s lot although he expects only 500 to 700 of those spaces to be used.
Shuttles will drop off and pick up passengers in front of Moser Hall on Lincoln. Street parking on the north side of Lincoln will be prohibited between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through May 13 to accommodate the shuttles.
YSU has reserved spaces in the M-24 lot along Fifth Avenue for handicapped parking. A shuttle will run from that lot to the front of Cushwa Hall on Lincoln.
Sophomore Ross Lopez of Youngstown usually parks in the M2 deck. With the deck closure, he and his roommates are considering carpooling as a way to cope.
He may consider the shuttles but only as a last resort.
“I just feel like it will take too much time waiting for a shuttle to go back and forth to get to class,” he said.
Junior Jessica Castick of Poland doesn’t park in the deck because her van is too large. She generally parks in the lot behind Smith Hall, which has many available spaces when she arrives early to campus.
She’s concerned, however, that many of those spaces will be taken by people who formerly parked in the deck.
Senior Jumal Brown of Youngstown doesn’t park in the deck because there aren’t enough spaces, and he also heard stories about debris falling on people’s cars. He parks on the street instead.
Brown expects some confusion next week as people scramble to find parking spots and get to class on time. He plans to get up earlier to find a parking slot.
O’Connell estimated the cost of the shuttles — provided by Community Bus Service and CCS Transit, both of Youngstown — and renting the lot at the center at $50,000 to $60,000.
Nicholas Meditz, president of the university’s Student Government Association, said students are pleased that improvements are being made to bolster safety and preserve those parking spaces. Some students who live in residence halls though, worry that people who parked in the deck will park in residence-hall lots, and deprive them of their parking spots.
University parking services will construct a new, 126-space surface lot along Fifth Avenue, next to the Beeghly College of Education and add 160 spaces to the M-26 lot behind Smith on the west side of Fifth Avenue.
Though the structural part of the project is to be done this year, work next year will include lighting, painting and safety enhancements at the deck.