Last week Clinton residents were surprised with a section of their parking lot undergoing construction to fix some troubling potholes.  

The southwest corner of the Clinton apartments had been a problem for many residents due to a big pothole making it hard to pass over without shaking their car. The pothole was situated in between the front line of cars and the dumpsters. The inconvenience of the spot broke up the parking lot into two individual sections, which caused cars to enter and exit from one point rather than two. 

Residents were also required to park a little farther away, in the dirt lot down the street. Many residents became bothered by these issues and reported it to Elyse Morris, Associate Director of Residence Life.

Morris said she heard the residents loud and clear and put in a work order for the pothole to get fixed.

“There were a handful of complaints, however, one is enough,” Morris said. “Plus the area was getting pretty damaged and difficult to drive over.”

The pothole started sometime in the summer and gradually became worse from garbage trucks, dumpsters being moved and people routinely driving over it. 

About 15% of the parking lot underwent construction. 

The construction workers quickly replaced the spot with new concrete and then repaved it- smoothing it out. The construction started on Oct. 27. and concluded on Nov. 5. The total construction time lasted a little over a week. 

Clinton residents are now able to drive smoothly throughout the entire parking lot without having to worry about their cars shaking. 

Junior Wyatt Heisterkamp, a Community Advisor (CA) for the Clinton Apartments said he was happy to see changes made to the parking lot.

“I’m glad it’s fixed. We had some pretty good indentations and dips over there,” Heisterkamp said. “I’m not only happy it’s fixed for me but for my residents here at Clinton.” 

Heisterkamp gave his thoughts on how the parking lot being under construction has affected him. 

“The parking situation hasn’t really affected me a whole lot, maybe slightly because I have parked in the dirt lot more recently,” Heisterkamp said. “If the parking lot is full I go to the dirt lot, it’s a little more walking but a little exercise won’t hurt.”

Because of the parking lot construction, there were more occurrences of people parking in non-parking areas which made it harder on some drivers. 

“I know quite a few folks like to extend the middle row, that’s generally not a problem for most but for people like me who drive a big truck, it makes it hard to maneuver around,” Heisterkamp said.

Morris said she wanted to leave students with a message about who to contact if a parking situation or if other campus problems were to happen. 

“Please contact housing, security or the physical plant when issues arise that need attention,” Morris said.