A&T began a $6.3 million construction project on Thursday Jan. 4.

A new three-story, 514-car parking deck will be built on nearly half of Obermeryer Street parking lot which is directly behind Curtis Hall and Bluford Library.

“We’re excited about the construction of the deck. We’re taking it as a challenge for the police, but we take pride in taking challenges head on, “said Curtis Bigelow, the police chief at A&T.

Parking around these areas will not be available after Jan. 5.

“I think that it is unfair to build a parking lot in the middle of the year because it takes away from the parking that students had; some students already paid for parking stickers and can’t park where they usually park,” said Makeda Tillman, a junior journalism and mass communication.

According to Bigelow the new parking deck will contain a swipe- card access for students who have parking permits. Visitors will be able to pull a ticket and then go to the cash machine and receive a token to get in and out of the parking deck. There will also be an opportunity for reserved parking for faculty.

To help with parking while the deck is being built, there will be alternate parking areas for students, faculty and visitors on Luther Street near the new Alumni-Foundation Center. Commuters can also use the parking area near Daniel Street behind Webb Hall and an area next to Webb Hall facing Benbow Road. The parking area behind Holland Hall on Obermeryer Street will be closed until the end of the semester.

“The staff is properly suffering more than students because there the one’s who are losing their lots close to the Dowdy building, but we’re going to put them in temporary lots,” Bigelow said.

The new construction is making many students have mixed concerns and feelings.

“My only concern is are they going to have it ready by next year and that hopefully there won’t be any side effects on the tuition. They should do it over the summer because now there is going to be less parking during the semester,” said John Holland, a junior broadcast production major.

To help with the parking issues police and security are getting ways to help students commute around campus and cope with traffic.

“We will have signs and we want students to pay attention to them. Students can go to the police department Web site or on campus broadband. (The radio station) 90.1 is a good source for information about changes,” Bigelow said.

Students may have to prepare for a possible increase in the cost of parking permits, according to Bigelow.

“We want the parking deck to be self sustained to pay for itself. We’ll do what we can to have reasonable prices for our community and students,” he said.

According to Bigelow the parking deck may be an eight- month project.

“We would like to see it open for the fall semester. We want to make deadlines. Once the deck is up things should be much better with traffic and parking. It will be a benefit to the community,” Bigelow said.

• Megan Rowls