50th CES to hold parking campaign

Courtesy Photo | A map of the North and West Restricted Area parking lots highlights available parking in both locations, times and distances to get from varying spots in the RA. 50th Civil Engineering Squadron recently launched a campaign with hopes of educating personnel on available parking at both portals and how to best use each area based on their specific work location.  

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, UNITED STATES

04.05.2021

Story by Marcus Hill 

Space Base Delta 1

The 50th Civil Engineer Squadron recently completed a Restricted Area Parking study that will address parking issues serving the North and West Portal restricted areas at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado.

They are launching a campaign with hopes of educating personnel on available parking at both portals and how to best use each area based on their specific work location.

Edward O’Gallagher, 50th CES Deputy Base Civil Engineer, said between both the North and West portal parking lots, the base has adequate parking for personnel working within the RA, but people rely too heavily on one.

“Our study shows a large portion of the population traditionally parks in the North Portal [RA] parking lot regardless of where they work,” O’Gallagher said. “This has created additional stresses on the availability of parking spaces within the North Portal lot while, at the same time, reducing the demand in the West Portal parking lot.

“We want to ensure Team Schriever is aware of the alternative and based on factual data, change their parking habits.”

Lt. Col. Andrew Cullen, 50th CES commander, said the issues of parking were “recognized long before the on-site manning restrictions of COVID-19,” and they hope to improve conditions through the campaign.

“Ultimately, it was known that once base manning began returning to normal, and considering the consistent growth in mission manpower, the issue with RA parking is going to once again become a perceived problem and we want to proactively begin to change the mind-set before manning returns to 100%,” Cullen said.

The North Portal RA parking lot contains 1,810 spots, about 45% of available slots, while the West Portal RA lot has 2,180 stalls, or 55% of parking.

The 50th CES studies showed the North Portal is typically at 100% usage while the West Portal lot sits at 75% occupancy.

“During normal non-COVID[-19] operations, the North Portal parking lot was chronically full,” O’Gallagher said. “One of our civil engineers studied the parking lot demands as compared to the number of personnel that typically would be expected to work within individual buildings. This evaluation indicated Schriever personnel would be better served by parking in different lots based on their duty location within the RA.”

The 50th CES suggested personnel in blue shaded building blocks, displayed in the graphic, park in the North RA parking lot. Personnel in the green shaded building blocks should park at the West Portal lot.

The suggested moves would put usage at the West Portal around 91% while the North Portal would drop to 80%.

Parking in the appropriate section would be less than a 10-minute walk to and from personnel’s respective locations.

“We are all creatures of habit and we do things a certain way because we may not know the alternative,” Cullen said. “The purpose of the parking campaign is to “bust” such myths. Depending on the specific building, walk times or travel distances could be reduced by simply parking in a different lot.”

For information regarding the parking study, contact 50th CES at 719-567-4200.

• Date Taken: 04.05.2021
• Date Posted: 04.07.2021 16:57
• Story ID: 393276
• Location: COLORADO SPRINGS, CO, US