Duke's parking headaches may be getting a little worse next week, as construction begins on two new buildings that will displace over 200 spots.
The Feb. 1 groundbreaking of the buildings-one for the Center for Human Genetics on La Salle Road and one for the Center for Models of Human Diseases on Research Drive-will result in the temporary loss of 190 and 17 parking spaces in the KT and RX lots, respectively.
The loss, effective Feb. 5, will affect mostly graduate students and Medical Center employees.
Parking officials will require that the most recent buyers of KT and RX parking passes lose their spaces. For the KT parkers this will mean moving to Parking Garage III on the corner of Pratt and Fulton Streets, and space will be available in Erwin Square near Hillsborough Road for RX parkers. Both alternative locations are about half-a-mile away from the original lots.
Those affected should have their spaces returned at the end of construction, which will last about 20 months, said Jackie Porcelli, a finance manager at the Medical Center.
During that time, parkers will pay the same rate as they do now, and buses will run on a regular schedule to take employees back and forth to the lots.
The new buildings are part of the University's long-range academic plan, which calls for significant investment in genomics research.
They will house researchers who will study possible genetic solutions to various diseases, including cancer, heart disease and diabetes.
Parkers were notified of the change at two meetings earlier this month.
According to Katrina Oie, a graduate student in microbiology who attended one of the meetings, the reaction was largely subdued.
"The main complaint was that you can't really go anywhere during the day, on a break, because for some people, [the time it takes to get to their car] was an increase from five minutes to half-an-hour," she said. "My impression is that the parking office was in a bad position, and they tried their best to make it better."
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