Campus roads closed during construction

Roads near the construction of the new Science building at Saddleback College will be periodically closed to accommodate construction. (Matt Corkill)

A section of Library Drive at Saddleback College will be closed due to construction on the new Science Building starting Tuesday, Feb. 25 and reopening on April 1.

“Basically what they’re doing is closing off Library Drive for approximately a month,” said Officer Santos Garcia of the Saddleback College Campus Police. Cars will not be allowed to pass through, however, pedestrian traffic is still allowed.

“My understanding is there will be a 6 foot fence going up so students won’t get into construction zone, but the sidewalk will remain open,” Garcia said.

Parking Lot 7A, the Learning Resources Center parking, will be open and accessible from College Drive West. Parking Lot 7 will only be accessible by College Drive East. Tiers 1 and 2 are open for student parking and tier 3 is open for staff, but tier 4 will be closed. There is additional staff parking in the bowl.

“The area will probably be used for construction equipment,” Garcia said.

According to information Garcia received, the bottom section of Library Drive will be closed off on March 24 and reopened on March 31. There are possibilities for other campus roads and parking lots to close at various times to allow for construction.

“It’s going to be inconvenient for a short period of time,” Garcia said.

However, some students feel differently.

“It’s going to be frustrating and even more competition to essentially compete for parking spots,” said Tommy Huynh, 23-year-old psychology major. “A lot of students are late to classes or have to get here at least 45 minutes early to find parking.”

For others, studying the parking pattern has helped the situation.

“I park in the Fine Arts lot. I’m on campus once a week and it takes only 5 to 15 minutes to find a spot,” said Stacey Frances, undeclared major. “There’s some strategy involved to find parking. You start realizing what patterns there are and when spots open up.”

According to Garcia, the construction and takeover of campus parking hasn’t affected citations.

“As far as traffic violations, the majority of citations are given for people running stop signs,” Garcia said. “The majority of parking violations are for not having a permit.”

To alleviate some stress for students and make up for the lost parking, some new areas have opened up on campus.

“New locations for student parking are Lot 5A and parking on the street of College West Drive,” Garcia said. “Lot 1 is the best place to park. It seems like a long walk, but it’s really not that far compared to a lot of universities and there is normally plenty of parking.”

Saddleback’s campus map is available at http://www.saddleback.edu/maps/documents/map.pdf

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