While construction of the new Michael W. Krzyzewski Center for Academic Excellence is well underway, this summer will see the groundbreaking for another athletic facility, which will be the new facility for lacrosse, summer football, and club rugby. As you may know, the facility will house locker rooms for both Duke teams and opponent teams, meeting rooms, a snack bar (including vegan fare), and a new store for Duke apparel and memorabilia. The new facility will be located on the parking lot on Whitford Drive between Koskinen Stadium and Cameron Indoor Stadium and baseballâs Jack Coombs Field. Construction is expected to take about 15-18 months.
The facility is definitely needed and will be top notch, but the downside is that it eliminates a significant amount of basketball game parking for âPriority 1â Iron Duke ticket holders. As a result, Priority 1 holders will now park in the current Priority 2 lots, Priority 2 holders will now park in the current Priority 3 lots, and Priority 3, 4, and 5 holders will now be moved offsite to the American Tobacco facility by the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
A few repercussions are that it will result in longer walks to Cameron for the Priority 1 and 2 holders and the need for Priority 3, 4, and 5 holders to utilize shuttle buses that will run between American Tobaccoâs parking decks and Cameron (actually, to ease congestion, passengers will probably be dropped off at the bottom of Whitford Drive). The use of shuttle buses is not without precedent in the area, as UNC has used the âTar Heel Expressâ buses to transport fans between parking at University Mall in Chapel Hill to the Dean Dome.
Because of the additional security and transportation expenses, Duke will be imposing a parking surcharge for the on-campus parking privileges of Priority 1 and 2 holders. The per-game parking fee is likely to be $20. Fortunately, the Athletic Department and Iron Dukes have teamed up with the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences with a âBlue Means Greenâ initiative. Hybrid cars and cars with four or more passengers (SUVâs excluded) will only have to pay the reduced fee of $10 per car per game. (Hybrid owners should apply to the Nicholas School for the appropriate decal.)
In addition, the buses making the approximately four to five mile drive between American Tobacco and Cameron (about a 12 minute trip, depending on game traffic) will run on natural gas, a "clean and green" alternative to gasoline and diesel. There will be no charge to use these shuttle buses, although parking at American Tobacco will probably cost about five dollars.