Inside Clemson

Mell Hall parking lot to close May 13; Sirrine lot to close May 20

By Jackie Todd, Office of Media Relations

The work commute is about to get more interesting for those who park in the Sirrine Hall (E-4) and Mell Hall (E-11) parking lots.

The lots, which contain a combined 286 employee spaces, nine handicap spots, and a handful of other designated spaces, will close for repaving and enhancements. The Mell Hall lot will be closed from May 13 through August 13 and the Sirrine lot will be closed from May 20 to July 19.

The project will create a total of five new parking spots—four at Sirrine and one at Mell—and bring all spaces up to ADA-compliance. During construction, the four existing ADA spaces located in the lot will temporarily be relocated; two will be placed at Calhoun Drive next to Sirrine Hall and the other two will be placed at South Palmetto Boulevard next to the entrance of the Sirrine Parking lot.

The new construction will also include installation of a new electric charging station and new LED lighting at Sirrine.

“The LED lighting is more energy efficient,” said Dan Hofmann, director of parking and transportation services. “It will help us save on energy costs and will be consistent with our commitment to sustainability.”

Employees who park in these lots will be directed to park on South Palmetto Boulevard and Williamson Road and can also park in commuter spaces. Additional employee spaces will be reserved on Nu Street, where employees can take the ADA-accessible Tiger Transit shuttle, which will be placed into service to transport employees. Nu Street is located just after the intersection of Centennial Boulevard and Perimeter Road on Centennial Boulevard. Additional parking is also available in the C-2 parking lot (See the dark green areas in the graphic below). The shuttles will run to various points on campus from Nu Street/C-2 parking lot to Mell Hall from 7 to 9:30 a.m. and from 3:30 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. After 6 p.m. employees may call Tiger Transit to receive on-demand transit service by visiting tigertransit.clemson.edu or calling 864-656-3333.

The shuttle stops (blue buses on map below) in operational order are the following:

1.     C-02 Parking Lot (Williamson Road)
2      Nu Street
3.     Earle Hall (Williamson Road/S. Palmetto Boulevard)
4.     Fluor Daniel (S. Palmetto Boulevard/Fernow Street)
5      Sirrine Hall (Fernow Street/Calhoun Drive)
6.     Brackett Hall (Calhoun Drive/Ft. Hill Street)
7.     Fike Recreation Center (Heisman Street)
8.     Mell Hall (SC-93)
9.     Brackett Hall (Calhoun Drive/Ft. Hill Street)
10.   Sirrine Hall (Fernow Street/Calhoun Drive)
11.    Fluor Daniel (S. Palmetto Boulevard/Fernow Street)
12.   Earle Hall (Williamson Road/S. Palmetto Boulevard)

Access to the Sirrine and Hunter Loading docks will be maintained.

Other summer parking projects include:

  • The closure of Cherry Road in July – Those who park on this road can park in C-1 lot accessible from Cherry Road and Perimeter Road and take the Tiger Transit shuttle to their campus destination.
  • A Clemson Area Transit (CAT) bus Red Route deviation will begin when Cherry Road is closed in July. The Red route will continue onto East Library Circle rather than turning right onto Cherry Road. Those who use the Cherry Road bus stops to access the Red Route should catch the bus at Sikes Hall.
  • A change in traffic flow for Calhoun Drive – between Tillman Circle and Fort Hill Street.  Calhoun Drive will be temporarily designated for one-way traffic and the Calhoun Drive gate arm will remain down for the summer. This, said Hofmann, will allow cars to be parked on both sides of Calhoun Street and will create 13 new employee spaces.
  • A multi-space meter expansion plan, which will place multi-space parking meters in various existing timed and visitor parking spaces. This expansion will coincide with the expansion of the Parker App allowing users to see how many metered spaces are available at their destination and use voice guided directions to get there.