UBS Arena, home of the New York Islanders, is widely considered an amazing arena, but the parking situation has been far from amazing this season. Islanders’ fans have had to deal with expensive prices, traffic and safety concerns when parking their car for games.

General paid parking is available in the Emerald Lot, located off exit 26D of the Cross Island Parkway. Barbara Harris, a Freeport resident, noted the lot is very difficult to exit after events.

“When the event was over, it was horrible. More than 18,000 people tried to get to their cars or whatever mode of transportation they were taking. The shuttle buses were few and far between,” Harris told Newsday. “We decided to walk to my car. We did not see many signs or many lights. It took forever to get to the entrance of the [Cross Island Parkway]. This was poor planning.”

Regina Raab, a Ronkonkoma resident, also expressed frustration, describing the expensive price for a parking lot that is almost a mile away from UBS Arena.

“Paying $30 to park a car in a lot that isn’t even near UBS Arena is excessive,” Raab told Newsday. “True, there are shuttle buses, but many people wind up walking rather than wait on long lines. What will the new parking garage cost to park? My ticket to the hockey game the other evening didn’t even cost $30. For other events, the cost is even higher. Make the parking fees more reasonable, and neighboring communities won’t suffer from excessive street parkers.”

Raab brought up a parking garage, and that is an important point. Next season, this will provide fans a new place to park — one that will hopefully alleviate some of these issues they are facing.

The 532,000 square foot, six-level structure will have over 1,450 parking spaces, according to Construction Manager Aurora Contractors.

It will be located right across Hempstead Turnpike — only a short walk away.

This parking garage will hopefully help Islanders’ fans have a better experience at UBS Arena. And hopefully, it will help community members, too.

During the first few weeks UBS Arena was open, some attendees parked in the neighborhood streets of Elmont — perhaps to make it easier to get home after events. However, a few of those fans reportedly were not well-behaved, as there were reports of out-of-control drivers, plus people urinating and cursing.

“I cannot even get over the sidewalk, over the lawn, to get in because I’m completely boxed in with cars,” homeowner Patricia Romeo told CBS2.

“All the people here, we are all professional people, hard-working, and with property taxes, exorbitant property taxes, it’s unfair that we have to live under these conditions.”

Reports of fans parking in Elmont have subsided since Hempstead Town officials restricted street parking, and the parking garage will surely continue this trend. The restrictions affect roads off Hempstead Turnpike such as Locustwood Boulevard, Heathcote Road, Huntley Sussex Road, Warwick Road, Wellington Road, 106th Avenue, 109th Avenue, Fieldmere Street and Pine Street, according to Newsday.

Mark Twain once said that “too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough.” Think of parking spaces as good whiskey.

UBS Arena needs more parking options to alleviate its conundrum, so expect a slightly easier drive to and from UBS Arena next season if the garage goes according to plan.

Drive4Five