About 90 construction projects are underway on the NIU campus this year said Conrad Miller, NIU physical plant project manager.

The addition of three new parking lots and the expansion of two existing lots will provide NIU with about 800 new parking spaces. Also, work on lot 36, south of Founders Memorial Library, will be completed this summer, providing 80 additional spaces.

“The contract has been signed with the contractor and now we’re waiting for the Board of Regents to sign it so we can start,” said Miller. He said he hopes to have lot 36 done by the time school starts this fall. A sidewalk also will be constructed adjacent to the service drive running between the library and the new parking lot.

Miller said lot S, south of Graham Hall, will provide an additional 200 parking spaces. Construction of lot W, north of married-student housing services, will open up 107 new parking spaces. Lot O, north of lot W, will provide an additional 257 places, Miller said.

In other projects, a steamline and tunnel by Stevenson Towers is almost completed. A similar project, installing a steam tunnel between Gilbert Hall and Wirtz Hall, has been delayed temporarily. “We’ll need to reduce traffic to one lane near the site and we feel it isn’t the proper time with all the construction from the parking lots and the Holmes Student Center tower renovation,” Miller said. He said the heavy amount of construction on the east side of campus has deferred several other projects.