ANN ARBOR— Two new parking structures along with several additional transportation services and parking initiatives will help address parking challenges on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor.

Hank Baier, associate vice president for facilities and operations, and Pat Cunningham, director of Parking and Transportation Services, presented a long-range parking plan today to the U-M Board of Regents.

Plans for a 500-space structure in the 1100 block of East Ann Street and a 440-space addition to the Thompson Street parking structure will be presented to the regents in the near future, Baier said. These new structures along with previously approved projects, including the new Palmer Drive and Cardiovascular Center parking structures, will add 2,230 new parking spaces in the next four years. Overall, the U-M parking system will experience a net gain of 2,500 blue permit spaces since 1998 and an additional 1,300 spaces that were added in parking areas in more remote locations.

“Our faculty and staff population has increased by 4,000 employees since 1998,” Baier said. “As a result, our parking system, which has been challenged for many years, continues with a parking crunch. This plan summarizes initiatives our staff has been creating to continue to work through this crunch.”

The parking plan development was overseen by Cunningham. He is retiring at the end of this month after 26 years of service with the University.

Several funding options to cover the costs of the new structures currently are under consideration, Baier said. Options include increasing the individual gold and blue permit fees and reviewing the relationship of the University contributions for employee permits.

To address some of the parking challenges, Baier highlighted several transportation services that recently have been added to reduce the parking demand. For example,

—Two hundred new parking spaces were added this summer at the State Street Commuter Lot, providing a total of 635 spaces that usually are filled twice each day.

—A Blue Crunch parking lot and taxi service was created in 2000 to provide parking for faculty and staff who arrive after many of the central campus parking spaces are filled. A second Blue Crunch lot was added this month on north campus for medical campus employees.

—U-M covers the costs for 17 van pools, reducing the demand for 100 parking spaces.

Longer range ideas that have been identified in the parking plan include options for three additional parking structures in areas currently providing only surface parking—north campus, south (athletics) campus and the Wall Street area. A new Automated Vehicle Identification system will be implemented throughout the parking structures to reduce unauthorized access. Baier also noted a longer range goal to create additional incentives to increase the use of alternative transportation reducing the increasing parking demand on central campus.