Dirt and large machinery, including a crane that can be seen blocks away from campus, were a constant part of the scene in front of the K-State Student Union for most of the winter months.

"Due to weather, we may run a little past," said Lawrence Murray, head garage site contractor for Murray and Sons Construction Company Inc., of the completion schedule. The projected completion date for the garage is still December 2008, but the ice storm in December and abundance of snow did not help with the progress and completion of the garage, Murray said.

AN ANSWER TO THE PARKING PROBLEM?

Even when the garage is completed, it is not certain that the $15.9 million structure will solve the parking issues at K-State, despite the long wait and inconveniences the garage has caused for students, faculty and staff.

Gary Leitnaker, assistant vice president of human resources at parking services, said the new parking garage will not necessarily solve all the parking issues at K-State.

"The new garage will certainly help in the central core of campus," Leitnaker said. "But will the new parking garage really meet parking needs for the whole campus? We will have to just wait and see."

When completed, the new garage boasts four new levels of parking space with 1,334 new parking stalls.

"This will be an enormous increase to what we previously had," said Lydia Peele, student body vice president and senior in secondary education-mathematics. "The new garage is really going to help because it will open up spaces in other areas, but will not solve all the parking problems."

NEW PROPOSAL

The proposal by the parking garage sub-committee, which is to be presented this month, includes 500 student parking spaces, 400 spaces for faculty and staff, 300 spaces for hourly-rate parking and 134 for reserved parking, Peele said.

The parking garage sub-committee is in the process of meeting with a technology company called Ski-Data to decide how students will be able to access the new parking garage, Peele said.

She said there are three options being explored at this time.

The first option would be to open up the student spaces in the parking garage to those with an "O" parking pass. The second option is students would be required to have a separate, new-technology parking pass for the new garage. The third option is students with an "O" parking pass would have to pay half price to use the new garage.

STUDENT, FACULTY SACRIFICES

Dean of student life Pat Bosco praised parking services for the accommodations they have made to aid the current parking shortage situation, particularly concerning parents and prospective students coming to Manhattan for campus visits.

"Parking services has done an excellent job to use the shuttle program to aid with parents coming up for visits," he said. "Completion of the new parking garage will be a great boom for K-State Student Union."

However some students and faculty have negative feelings concerning the new parking garage.

"I think it is in the way and isn't going to benefit us," said Rebecca Smith, senior in applied music.

But until the garage is done, those who do not live close enough to walk to campus will continue to experience the stress of driving in and out of stalls trying to find parking or planning extra time to ride the shuttle.

"I can always find a parking space, just not close to where I need to go," said graduate student in English Rachel Parkin.

Parkin said that a closer parking space would increase her time on campus, but it might help improve her mood.

"I might be a little nicer when I got [to campus] if I didn't have freezing cold fingers that were too numb to type," she said.

Parkin has to park in the "T" parking lot, which is located across the street from Moore Hall. She the walks to the English and Counseling Services building located behind Hale Library in the center of campus.

Parkin said she thought that the new parking garage might help the parking shortage a little bit, but it won't solve it.