Graduates and family members attending commencement ceremonies are being advised to park south of Sixth Street or north of the UA Mall to avoid congestion and confusion.
Undergraduate commencement will be at McKale Center at 9 a.m. on Saturday. Graduate school commencement will also be at the center at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. All on-campus parking will be free for both graduations.
The first and second floors of Cherry Avenue Parking Garage will be reserved for disabled parking on Friday night and Saturday morning. The parking lot at Hillenbrand Center on Enke Drive off of Campbell Avenue will also be designated disabled parking on Saturday.
To assist those who have to park far away and cannot walk long distances, the UA’s Parking and Transportation Services will provide a shuttle and golf cart service to take people to McKale Center.
On Friday night, shuttles will circulate around Cherry Avenue, Seventh Street, Highland Avenue, Sixth Street, Santa Rita Avenue and Fourth Street from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday’s shuttle service will run from 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
The shuttle will follow the same route on both days. From McKale Center’s north entrance, a shuttle will take Campbell Avenue north to Second Street, then go north on Martin Avenue to First Street. It will then take Mountain Avenue north to Speedway Boulevard and go south toward McKale on Cherry Avenue.
The UA’s commencement committee hired PTS to provide a golf cart service on campus grounds for the undergraduate and graduate ceremonies.
This will be especially helpful for those trying to get to the ceremony during the procession, when the graduates walk with their college from Bear Down Gym to McKale Center, said Elisa Tapia, the PTS program coordinator.
Construction around campus for the modern streetcar project will be halted during both commencement ceremonies. Representatives from the project agreed to keep as many streets open as possible. The only street closure will be on Second Street between Highland and Cherry Avenues. To get around the street closure, visitors will be rerouted to First Street, which will operate as a two-way street.
The UA is advising visitors to arrive at the ceremonies as early as possible to avoid parking and seating issues.