James Goodman

@goodman_dandc

College Town is sure to generate more traffic in an already congested area around UR

UR has 9%2C243 spaces %u2014 6%2C643 for UR employees and 2%2C600 for visitors and patients at Strong Memorial Hospital

Annual rates for UR parking lots%2C starting July 1%2C range from %24306 to %241%2C887

Susan Nyman has been parking in the same lot — Lot 2 — for 39 years. But in recent years, the Strong Memorial Hospital secretary has seen her annual fee increase dramatically.

The $240-a-year annual parking fee that she paid five years ago steadily rose to $675 last year, and will bump up to $750 in July, when UR starts its next fiscal year.

"I don't think it's fair," Nyman said. "It's just another expense that you put on your employees."

UR's sharp adjustment of some employee parking rates in recent years is among the variety of changes being made in managing one of the most congested areas in the region. And while parking on area campuses has long been a festering sore spot for students and others, UR is uniquely landlocked in a densely packed, high traffic city neighborhood.

The Medical Center, on land to the west of Mt. Hope Avenue and south of Elmwood Avenue into the Lattimore Road area, has been at the center of UR's expansion and includes Strong Memorial Hospital. All told, more people go to work at UR — the Rochester region's largest employer — than anywhere else in the area.

But while steps are being taken to promote mass transportation and provide better access to Interstate 390, the coming of College Town — a $100 million multi-use project next to the Medical Center slated to open in the fall — will generate more traffic.

Medical Center Chief Operating Officer Peter Robinson said that employees such as Nyman parking in Lot 2 — at the south end of the Medical Center campus — are in one of the "close in" lots, and should pay more for being near the complex of buildings that make up the Medical Center.

"What we are trying to do is get to fairness," Robinson said.

But Nyman said that she has been parking all these years in the same lot, which used to be called the "back lot." And even though the growth of the Medical Center has prompted creation of new lots farther away, Nyman is no closer to her office at Strong. It's still a several block walk.

The jump in parking fees in recent years for some Medical Center lots also generates more revenue from parking operations.

Medical Center parking is expected to finish the fiscal year ending in June as a break-even proposition, financially, for UR, which has 9,243 spaces — 6,643 for UR employees and 2,600 for visitors and patients at Strong Memorial Hospital. Previously, this operation was in the red, say UR officials.

In addition, UR's nearby River Campus — where most of the UR students take their classes and many live in residence halls — has 3,417 employee permit spaces and 1,157 such spaces for students.

Location, location, location

The notion that location defines parking rates helps explain differences in employee parking rates for Medical Center lots.

Annual rates for UR parking lots, kicking in July 1, will range form $306 for a shuttle lot on Scottsville Road in Chili to $1,887, for parking adjacent to Medical Center buildings.

But a small distance can now mean a big difference in parking rates.

If Nyman parked a bit farther from the Medical Center — Lot 9 is across the street from Lot 2 on Lattimore Road — she would pay $357 for the fiscal year that begins in July. That's less than half the $750 that she will pay in Lot 2.

Five years ago, the users of these two UR employee lots paid the same rate — $240 a year.

Nyman, who is 60, said she doesn't want to park farther away. She fears that, if she had to cross an additional street in her walk to and from work, she would be at greater risk of slipping in winter weather or being hit by a car.

Others in Lot 2 also see nothing fair about the tripling of their parking rates over the past five years.

"Why does it have to go up so much?" said Gwen Kendall, a nutritionist at the Medical Center.

Manisha Srivastava, 42, a clinical nutrition specialist, added: "I'm changing lots. It's just too much."

Growing traffic

An estimated 30,000 vehicles travel down this stretch of Mt. Hope on a typical day — and that figure is projected to increase to 39,600 over the next 15 years, according to Paul Way, manager of special projects for the city.

College Town, now under construction, is located on 14 acres on the west side of Mt. Hope, between Elmwood and Crittenden Boulevard. UR continues to own the land but has entered into a longterm lease with private developers Fairmount Properties LLC of Cleveland and Gilbane Development Co. of Providence, Rhode Island.

The project is designed to create an "urban village" — featuring apartments and stores along with a Barnes & Noble bookstore, a hotel and conference center, office space and a grocery store.

Documents submitted by the developers two years ago tell of the increased traffic expected — 735 vehicles coming to the area during the afternoon peak hour.

Initially, the Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority planned a bus terminal on the first floor of the new parking garage being built at College Town. But the plan was scrapped because waiting for the needed federal review of the terminal would have delayed construction of the garage.

Meanwhile, UR has about 1,150 spaces in the garage for about $20 million — and is renting these spaces for $1,698 a year. In all, there will be 1,600 spaces in the six-level structure, in addition to 500 spaces in surface lots and under the Barnes & Noble.

Alternatives routes

UR is developing a transportation plan that tries to give a boost to mass transit.

"We are trying to reduce the demand for parking and trying to promote alternatives to work for our employees," said Hugh Kierig, who last year was named director of parking and transportation services at UR.

Six bus shelters are in the design phase for the College Town-Medical Center area, noted Kierig, who is working with RGRTA on these shelters.

A shelter will be on both sides of Mt. Hope, in front of College Town. Two more shelters will be on Elmwood and another pair on Crittenden.

In June, Kierig plans to launch an online car pool program, which will help employees find possible partners.

A van pool is also expected to be launched this summer that will provide transportation by a private company at a cost cheaper than a commute by car. The service will target commuters in outlying suburbs.

Kierig said that in addition to maintaining parking on a break-even basis, he is "offering employees choice and promoting alternatives."

Currently, RGRTA has 10 routes to the Medical Center-College Town area.Another route — originating in downtown Rochester and going to Genesee Street before heading to the Medical Center area begins in June, said Crystal Benjamin, director of service planning for RGRTA.

A count a year ago showed that 1,175 passengers use bus service to the Medical Center area on a given weekday — second only to downtown Rochester as biggest bus destination in the county.

A bicycle trail is planned by the city from Genesee Valley Park to College Town, with the trail starting on the north side of Elmwood and switching to the south side at the East Drive signal.

The city's Mt. Hope Improvement Project, completed last fall, has widened the road and put in a median with a traffic light at a new intersection on Mt Hope, about halfway between Elmwood and Crittenden.

The new entrance to Interstate 390 at Kendrick Road — south of the Medical Center — under construction should provide a route for some commuters seeking to avoid Mt. Hope.

And Mt. Hope residents on many of the side streets have successfully petitioned the city to switch the changeover time for alternative parking from 6 to 7 in the morning to 10 to 11 a.m. That makes it difficult to park on side streets without risking a ticket unless the driver of the parked car takes a break from work and moves the car to the other side of the street in mid-morning.

Dan Hurley, president of the Upper Mt. Hope Neighborhood Association, said the new changeover time has reduced parking on residential streets and made it less likely cars park on these streets near busy intersections with major streets.

"It is a good step but you need car pooling and people to bike or walk to work," said Hurley.

JGOODMAN@DemocratandChronicle.com

Twitter.com/Goodman_DandC