It takes a partnership to carve out parking spaces where none existed before, and that partnership is creating at least 40 new parking spaces in the former Old Town area in the first quarter of 2024.

“The clean-up of the buildings that made up Old Town has left us with a large flat area perfect for parking,” said Skip Dunham, PIM  Deputy Director. “We will eventually recycle the space into something that supports the Lab’s scientific mission, but in the meantime, we plan on paving and striping the area for parking. We are also evaluating how many parking spaces can be reclaimed at the site of the former Building 79 until the electrical substation project gets underway.”

PIM and Parking & Transportation partnered in other ways to reduce the impact on parking. Construction parking is limited at the Lab to parking within designated construction areas, inside laydown areas where construction materials are stored, or in the pit parking lot. Construction workers primarily carpool or park at an offsite garage and take a Lab shuttle to their construction site. 

“Another way we limit our impact on parking is with limited soil stockpiling. Soil is sampled in advance on projects so we can quickly excavate and remove the unnecessary soil. We save what we will need during construction as backfill for foundations, trenches, and terracing and contouring projects. Stockpiling soil is a big money saver for the Lab since it would cost about $500 thousand to buy the soil we will need for the Welcome Center project. It makes sense to save that money by stockpiling soil.” 

“Parking is a challenge, and we want to preserve as many spaces as possible for our staff,” said Transportation Manager John Chernowski. “I’m happy to partner with others at the Lab to find creative solutions to carving out additional spaces.”