St. Thomas Transportation Services Manager Peg Olson attended the Undergraduate Student Government meeting Thursday to discuss on-campus parking issues and parking availability for fall 2025.
“One of our biggest issues is parking availability,” Olson said. “Do we have enough spaces on campus? No, but we manage what we have.”
With the projected completion of the Lee and Penny Anderson Arena in the fall of 2025, the demand for parking on campus is increasing, she said.
Students will no longer be able to park on APF level three as the university has agreements with the city of St. Paul, requiring this space to remain open for sports game attendees. But Olson said that Transportation Services is planning to increase parking spaces in other lots to offset this loss.
There are plans to expand spots in Lot U and a dozen more spots in some other spaces, Olson said.
Additionally, upon the arena’s completion, more on-campus spots will open up as construction workers will no longer be on site.
“Once we build the arena, it’s going to get better because we won’t have the construction crew here anymore, but for now, we need them here to do the job they have to do,” Olson said.
Many students at the meeting voiced their concerns about the lack of parking spaces for students living on campus.
“It just feels a little bit unfair that there won’t be residence parking available on mid or south campus,” Diversity Activities Board representative Mahika Kandula said.
Olson said she agreed that the situation is not great, but that there are no current plans to build another lot or parking garage in those areas.
“If we got donors that could get you $15 to $30 million dollars, that would be awesome; I would love another parking garage,” Olson said. “It’s also where to put it, and so, there’s just a lot of questions left.”
Overall, Olson said she is driven to improve the parking situation on campus for students and faculty.
“Yes, it’s a challenging year,” Olson said. “It’s challenging. We own it.”
Cecilia Wallace can be reached at wall1238@stthomas.edu.
