State leaders approve 1,500-space parking lot at KU

Topeka ? State leaders on Tuesday approved a nearly $10.5 million parking lot at Kansas University to ease a parking space shortfall.

Meeting as the State Finance Council, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and legislative leaders voted to allow the state to issue the bonds for the project.

The 1,500-space surface lot will be built on West Campus and have shuttle connections to the main campus. It is expected to be completed by next fall.

The bonds will be repaid with student parking fees.

A recent study predicted KU would be short as many as 3,000 parking spaces in the next decade from growth.

And the projected opening of the Multidisciplinary Research Building on West Campus later this year has made the concern more immediate. The building ultimately will be open to about 200 faculty, staff and students.

Tom Mulinazzi, an engineering professor who leads the Parking Commission, said the university has hired TranSystems Corp., a Kansas City, Mo., firm, to work as consultants in the development of a shuttle system.

Today many faculty can have parking spaces on West Campus and on the main campus, Mulinazzi said. But that may change.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future,” Mulinazzi said. “The only thing that’s definite is the fact that park-and-ride is going to be built.”

The 1,500-space lot will be located south of the Multidisciplinary Research Building.

The $10,468,000 cost to build includes lighting, access roads and improvements to intersections with city streets. KU sought approval from the State Finance Council because its parking study was received too late to seek legislative approval for the bonds, according to a state memo.