This site is the future home to a 38-stall parking lot, located off of Bedford Road behind the newly renovated fitness center at RAF Lakenheath. (Sean Kimmons / S&S)
RAF LAKENHEATH — To combat a parking shortage near the base fitness center, the 48th Civil Engineer Squadron is coordinating the construction of two parking lots.
“Right now, we have a problem with dorm residents not having enough parking because of the people going to the fitness center,” Capt. Matt Olijnek, the deputy chief of the squadron’s engineering flight.
A renovation project that ended last month added a new gym, locker rooms and a cardio equipment room to the base fitness center. The land where these new facilities sit now used to be a parking lot, he said.
A car park with 38 stalls is being built off of Bedford Road, adjacent to the newly renovated fitness center, to alleviate the parking issue. The Amec Construction Company was awarded the contract for the project, worth about 183,000 pounds, or about $343,000.
The parking lot also will serve the 120-bed dorm project that is scheduled for completion by the end of October.
Plans are in the works for a second car park in front of the arts and crafts center, where there is a vacant plot of land. The squadron did not respond to Stars and Stripes’ requests to provide the number of spaces or how much the project will cost. Olijnek said that the project was awaiting approval by the U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
