LARAMIE (WNE) — State legislators and members of the University of Wyoming’s Board of Trustees came to a general consensus Monday that the university should construct a parking garage on the north side of Grand Avenue, between 10th and 11th streets.
That site already houses a parking lot, but members of the UW Housing Task Force — consisting of UW leaders, legislators and Laramie Mayor Joe Shumway — have eyed the location south of Old Main as a prime spot to place new parking. The construction of new dormitories along 15th Street is expected to eliminate the parking adjacent to the Wyoming Union.
The UW Housing Task Force, convened by the Legislature to oversee the construction of at least $300 million in new dorms, made plans Monday to vote in August on its recommendations for where the first two dorms should be placed.

When the housing task force began meeting this year, its members quickly identified a parking garage as a top need for the university. The 2019 state law creating the financing scheme for dorms construction to proceed requires the university’s dorms overhaul to create a net increase in parking.
UW Trustee Kermit Brown did express concern about how the parking garage would be paid for.
If UW were to issue bonds to pay for a 600-space, $15 million garage, the university would likely face annual debt service costs of $770,000.
UW staff estimated the university would need to triple to the price of parking passes if end-users were to cover the cost.