HomeMy WebLinkAboutBYU-I PARKING STUDY - Comprehensive Plan 2003Draft Executive Summary
Campus Parking Study
March 2002
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Wilbur Smith Associates
Introduction
BYU-Idaho (formerly known as Ricks College), located
in Rexburg, Idaho, is a 113 -year-old institution
committed to quality education and spiritual growth.
In the fall of 2001, BYU-Idaho officially became a four-
year institution offering several new bachelor programs.
Over 20 new four-year programs are planned over the
next four to five years.
Along with the new programs will come an expansion
of the campus population including additional
students, faculty and staff. To more readily
accommodate the expanded population, the university
is transitioning to a four -track system where students
can attend classes in the fall/winter, winter/summer,
summer/fall, or year-round. In addition, campus
officials are planning new construction and building
expansions. Additional parking will be built as part of
the expansion program.
Executive Summary
This study addresses the parking needs of the university
through 2005, the time period when a majority of the
expansion will occur. Early in the study, several
objectives were identified:
t To determine existing utilization of parking;
t To determine future demand for parking;
� To determine needed parking improvements; and
� To determine parking rationale to be used in future
parking expansion as the university grows beyond
2005.
The primary study area was the main campus in
Rexburg. Other areas observed and analyzed included
the residential neighborhoods immediately north of the
campus where some university spillover parking occurs.
The study scope of work included data collection and
analysis of existing conditions, calculation of existing
Aerial view of BYU-Idaho rampo looking routh.
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BYU-IDAHO CAMPUS PARKING STUDY WILBUR SMITH ASSOCIATES S-1
parking demand for both students and faculty/staff, and
estimation of future (2005) parking demand. Based
upon the estimated parking needs, consultant staff
worked with university officials to determine
alternatives to meet the parking demand.
Study Conditions
Substantial data were collected during the study
regarding existing conditions on campus. Information
gathered included an inventory of existing parking
supply (both on -street and off-street) serving the
campus; tabulation of existing infrastructure on
campus; tabulation of fall 2001 student, faculty and
staff population; current parking regulations for both
BYU-Idaho and the City of Rexburg; and pertinent
information regarding handicap parking in relation to
the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
BYU-Idaho has a substantial amount of parking
available to both students and faculty/staff. In total,
there are 2,760 university parking spaces, including
1,991 for students. Of the total, 1,585 parking spaces
are off-street (owned by the university) and 1,175
parking spaces are on -street (owned by the city). Of the
on -street parking spaces, all but 342 are located on
streets internal to the campus, which are only used for
university purposes. The 342 spaces that are on city
streets immediately adjacent to the university are
primarily of use to the university, but could serve other
land uses. Table S-1 presents a summary of parking on
the BYU-Idaho campus in the fall of 2001.
Table SI
Parking Inventory
Off-street Parking
735,078
Faculty/staff parking spaces
614
Student parking spaces
821
Service parking spaces
87
Handicap parking spaces
43
Visitor parking spaces
20
Total off-street parking spaces
1,585
On -street Parking
735,078
Faculty/staff parking spaces
0
Student parking spaces
1,170
Service parking spaces
2
Handicap parking spaces
3
Visitor parking spaces
0
Total on -street parking spaces
1,175
Total Parking Spaces 21760
Source; BYU-Idaho; Wilbur Smitb Aaodata (October 2001)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In addition to the existing parking spaces, it should be
noted that 381 parking spaces associated with the new
multi -use building were under construction during the
study. These spaces are not included in Table S-1.
Figure S-1 shows the location of primary parking areas
on the BYU-Idaho campus.
The existing BYU-Idaho campus includes many
buildings serving academic, administration and housing
purposes. In total, the main campus has 1,684,511 gross
square feet of building space. Of this, 1,100,651 square
feet is assigned for an overall efficiency of 65 percent.
Table S-2 presents a summary of the campus building
inventory.
Table S-2
Campus Building Inventory
ASSIGN. GROSS
BUILDING TYPE SQ. FT. SQ.. FT.
Academic
735,078
1,146,005
Administration
137,303
199,001
Primary Housing
189,280
294,722
All Other
38,990
44,783
Main Campus Total 1,100,651 1,684,511
Source: BYU-Idaho (Iuly 2001)
Fall 2001 campus enrollment was 9,200, up from 8,955
for the 2001 winter term and 8,949 for the fall 2000
term. Table S-3 shows the breakdown of the 2001 fall
student population. Of the 9,200 students enrolled,
8,654 were full time and 546 were part time.
1,118 faculty, staff and administrative personnel were
employed in the fall of 2001 to support the student
population. Based on the employee directory on the
BYU-Idaho web site, there were 562 staff and
administrative personnel, 491 full-time faculty members,
and 65 part-time faculty members.
Faculty members are spread throughout the campus.
Buildings with the most faculty members include the
Smith Building (94 full- and part-time faculty), the
Clarke Building (77 faculty), the Romney Science
Building (54 faculty), and the Snow Building (52
faculty). Together, these four buildings house
approximately 50 percent of the full- and part-time
faculty. Staff and administrative personnel are largely
concentrated in the Kimball Administration Building
(179 staff), the Physical Plant Complex (118 staff), and
the Manwaring Student Center (95 staff). In total, these
three buildings account for approximately 70 percent of
the staff/administrative personnel.
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BYU-IDAHO CAMPUS PARKING STUDY WILBUR SMITH ASSOCIATES S-2
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Student Parking
Faculty/Staff Parking
Figure S -I
Primary Campus
Parking Areas
Table S3
BYU-Idaho Student Body — Fall 2001
Part Time
MALE
FEMALE
TOTAL
Full Time
85
95
180
Freshmen
1,717
2,254
3,971
Sophomores
1,270
1,950
3,220
Juniors
581
732
1,313
Seniors
77
73
150
Subtotal (FT)
3,645
5,009
8,654
Part Time
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Freshmen
85
95
180
Sophomores
79
96
175
Juniors
65
88
153
Seniors
16
22
38
Subtotal (PT)
245
301
546
TOTAL 3,890 5,310 9,200
Source: BYU-Idaho web site (November 2001)
Parking is readily available to students and faculty/staff.
During the 2001/2002 school year, General/Student
parking permits cost $5.00 for the first permit and $3.00
for the second permit. Approximately 2,550
General/Student parking permits were sold. Faculty and
staff receive the first permit for free and the second
permit for $1.00.
Parking Utilization
Utilization data were collected on campus on September
30 (Sunday) and October 1, 2001 (Monday), and on
December 4 and 5, 2001, (Tuesday and Wednesday,
respectively). This data included hourly occupancy
counts on a majority of campus parking spaces and a
sampling of spaces for parking turnover and duration.
Data on residential streets adjacent to the north side of
campus were collected in October 2001, and February
2002, to estimate the extent of spillover parking from
the campus to residential areas.
In general, parking on the campus is well utilized but
not at capacity. Observations made on Sunday,
September 30, 2001, showed parking occupancy to be
reasonably high for Church activities, but less than that
observed on weekdays. In total, 2,252 of the 2,760
parking spaces on campus (both off-street and on -street)
were observed. Parking occupancy reached a peak of
971 vehicles (43 percent of the total spaces observed)
between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon. Figure S-2 shows
the hourly parking occupancy from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00
p.m.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Figure S-2
Observed Parking Occupancy
Sunday, September 30, 2001
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Observations made on Monday, October 1, showed
considerably more usage of campus parking facilities.
2,139 parking spaces were observed. Parking occupancy
peaked at 1,705 vehicles (80 percent of the total spaces
observed) between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. Most
facilities observed were well utilized with the exception
of Lot 145 (Stadium North parking lot), Lot 152
(Biddulph parking lot), and Lot 156 (Baseball Field
parking lot). Taking these three lots out of the
calculations resulted in peak occupancy between 10:00
a.m. and 11:00 a.m. of 1,621 vehicles out of a total of
1,902 parking spaces (85 percent of the total). Figure S-
3 shows the hourly parking occupancy from 8:00 a.m.
to 6:00 p.m.
Figure S3
Observed Parking Occupancy
Monday, October 1, 2001
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TaW Observed Spaces =1,134
Data collected on December 4 and 5, 2001, showed
parking occupancy on weekdays to be approximately six
to 10 percent higher than the October values.
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BYU-IDAHO CAMPUS PARKING STUDY WILBUR SMITH ASSOCIATES S4
In addition to parking occupancy, turnover and
duration are useful measures in determining parking
characteristics of a university campus. During Church
activities on Sunday, September 30, 2001, a sample of
150 spaces were observed for turnover and duration.
On average, the spaces observed had a daily turnover
rate of 1.65, i.e., each space was used by an average of
1.65 vehicles during the day. Average duration of use
for each of the 150 spaces observed was -3.89 hours, in
line with the duration of Church activities.
On Monday, October 1, 2001, a sample of 205 parking
spaces were observed for turnover and duration. Of
these 140 were student spaces and 65 were faculty/staff
spaces. Average daily turnover was calculated as 2.85.
Student spaces had a higher turnover rate (3.10) than
faculty/staff spaces (2.32). In line with the turnover
values, average duration of stay at the observed spaces
was 3.52 hours. Faculty/staff tended to park longer
(average of 4.27 hours) than students (average of 3.25
hours).
In addition to a study of utilization of campus parking,
an investigation was made of the extent of spillover
parking at BYU-Idaho. Of main concern were
residential streets on the north side of campus. To
gauge the level of residential spillover parking, turnover
was measured between evening parking (7:30 p.m.) and
mid-morning parking (10:30 a.m.). Partial license plate
numbers were recorded both on Monday evening,
October 1, 2001, and Tuesday morning, October 2,
2001, on several nearby residential streets. It was
estimated that approximately 97 vehicles (82 percent of
the total parked mid-morning) were vehicles parked for
campus (not residential) purposes on Tuesday morning.
Figure S4 graphically displays the data.
Figure S-0
Observed Residential Street Parking
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morning and
Evening
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morning Only
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Observations were also made on February 19 (Tuesday)
and 20, 2001 (Wednesday), to determine any impacts
due to colder weather. On the afternoon of February
19, spillover parking was estimated to be 60 vehicles.
During mid-morning, February 20, spillover parking
was estimated to be 79 vehicles. While spillover parking
is undesirable, the amount of spillover is minor
compared with the amount of parking on campus. If
spillover parking becomes a large issue, remedies are
available. As an example, a residential parking permit
program could be implemented by the city to mitigate
the problem.
Parking Demand
The approach used to determine parking demand on
the BYU-Idaho campus had multiple steps and utilized
information derived from university sources, previous
university studies performed elsewhere by Wilbur Smith
Associates, and parking industry publications. The first
step involved determining the number of full-time and
part-time students, the number of full-time and part-
time faculty, and the number of staff and administrative
personnel. Most of that information was collected from
published records for the fall term, 2001.
The next step involved determining which students
either lived on campus or within two blocks of campus.
Presumably, these students would have less incentive to
drive and park than students further from campus. In
total, 6,900 students (75 percent ) live within two blocks
of campus.
The final step involved making allowances and
adjustments. An allowance was made for those that
were absent (sick, on vacation, involved with other
matters away from campus, etc.). Estimates were made
of travel mode representative of normal commute
patterns. Finally, parking demand was estimated by
applying factors for the peak day and peak hour of the
peak day.
The parking utilization data were useful in determining
existing characteristics of parking to be used in
calibrating existing parking demand. Since data for
weekdays generally showed higher occupancy than
Sundays, these data were used in determining peak
parking demand. Parking occupancy, as shown in
Figure S-3 above, provided good initial data. These data
were adjusted to include parking areas not directly
observed, residential spillover parking, and the effect
colder weather in December on an individual's
propensity to drive and park (generally assumed to be
eight percent higher than observed in October 2001). A
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BYU-IDAHO CAMPUS PARKING STUDY WILBUR SMITH ASSOCIATES S-5
control total of 2,320 was determined to be appropriate
for developing formulae and a model for developing
existing peak parking demand. Table S4 summarizes
the calculation of existing peak parking demand.
Table S4
Calculation of Existing Peak Parking Demand
Fall 2001 Campus Demographics
FTE Students 8,927
FTE Faculty 537
FTE Staff 562
FTEs After Allowance for Absent/Vacation (10%)
Students 8,034
Faculty 483
Staff 506
Arrival on Campus by Mode (Person Trips)
Faculty/Staff
Students
Single Occupant Vehicle
92%
26%
Carpool/Vanpool
5%
9%
Other (Walk, Bicycle, etc.)
3%
65%
Arrival on Campus by Vehicle
Faculty/Staff Students
Total During Peak Week 933 2,433
Total During Peak Day 756 1,971
Existing Peak Parking Demand
Faculty/Staff Students
All Students and
Faculty/Staff 643 1,675
Calculated Peak Parking Demand Ratios
Parking Spaces per FTE Student 0.188
Parking Spaces per FTE Faculty/Staff 0.585
As shown in Table S-4, two parking demand ratios were
derived that can be used to estimate peak parking
demand. For students, the calculated ratio is 0.188
parking spaces for each FTE student. For faculty and
staff, the calculated ratio is 0.585 parking spaces for
every FTE employee. The values in Table SA and the
ratios calculated take into account service and handicap
spaces (since these are used by students and staff and
were also included in the control total) and the very
minor amount (20 spaces) of visitor parking.
The ratio for faculty/staff is generally near the midpoint
of ranges published by industry sources. The ratio for
students, however, is skewed more to the lower end of
the published industry range. BYU-Idaho has a fairly
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
low percentage of registered automobiles per student
(0.29 vehicles for every FTE student), which supports
the lower ratio. Also, the high number of students
living within two blocks of campus supports the high
percentage of those that walk or bicycle to campus and
the corresponding lower parking demand ratio.
Table 6-4 provides very good tools to estimate future
parking demand. Parking demand for 2005 was
estimated assuming campus demographics would
remain fairly constant over the next few years. Included
in the assumption was the split between full-time and
part-time students and full-time and part-time
faculty/staff in determining FTEs.
BYU-Idaho student and faculty/staff projections were
used to determine future parking demand. The student
body (at any one time on campus) is expected to grow
from 9,200 (2001) to 11,600 (2005). Faculty population
is expected to increase by 75 and FTE staff was assumed
to mirror the student population growth. Table S-5
summarizes future parking demand.
Table SS
Calculation of 2005 Peak Parking Demand
2005 FTE Students 11,256
2005 FTE Faculty 609
2005 FTE Staff 708
2005 Student Peak Parking Demand 2,116
2005 Faculty Staff Park Parking Demand 770
Total Peak Parking Demand 2,886
In forecasting parking demand, it is important to
remember that 100 percent use of facilities is not
practical or desired. Practical capacity for a university
campus like BYU-Idaho probably hovers around 90
percent. This allows for minor inefficiencies and
provides a small factor of safety to meet minor spikes in
demand.
Assuming 90 percent occupancy to be practical capacity,
approximately 3,200 parking spaces will be needed in
2005. This equates to approximately one space for every
four people. Parking available today (2,760 parking
spaces), plus parking that will be available in short order
(381 parking spaces associated with the new multi -use
building under construction), will result in an inventory
of 3,141 parking spaces. Theoretically, the campus is
very close to having the number of parking spaces
needed to accommodate growth through 2005.
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BYU-IDAHO CAMPUS PARKING STUDY WILBUR SMITH ASSOCIATES S-6
It is very important for the university to evaluate the
location of parking spaces with respect to destinations
on campus. While all employees and students of the
university naturally desire to park as close as possible to
their destination on campus, faculty and
staff/administrative personnel are the most likely to be
sensitive to walking distance from their parking space.
Figure S5
Average Walking Distance by Urbanized Area
Population
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Source. Parkinz. Wean[ and Lminson
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Students may have multiple destinations on campus for
each trip (e.g., classes, library, student center, etc.) and
would likely try to park central to each activity. Faculty
and staff/administrative personnel generally have a
primary destination of their dedicated workspace or
office.
Past studies have shown that there is a relationship
between the size of a community and the distance an
individual will readily accept to walk from a parking
space to a destination. Figure S-5 graphically depicts
this relationship. For a community the size of Rexburg
(approximately 17,300), a walking distance of 300 to 400
feet would be in line with local expectations.
In planning future university parking, consideration
needs to be given to the type of parking needed. While
faculty/staff can use their permits to park in
General/Student spaces, students don't have the
privilege of parking in Faculty/Staff spaces. Service
spaces need to be planned based on building uses and
needs. Since visitors can park in virtually any lot with
or without a permit, the provision of visitor -specific
spaces, while still important, is not critical. Handicap
spaces need to be planned in accordance with ADA
requirements.
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BYU-IDAHO CAMPUS PARKING STUDY WILBUR SMITH ASSOCIATES S-7