Central campus soon will see some much-needed renovations to the deteriorating visitor parking lot, though at a potential cost to those who park there.

Ron Pearson, coordinator of parking and traffic, said the visitor lot will be completely reconstructed next spring. The lot is located just west of Founders Memorial Library, behind Cole Hall and Neptune East.

Visitors have complained that when the lot is full, cars are cramped for space. The lot’s surface has deteriorated with large potholes and cracks, which means that bad weather days make walking through the lot and parking even more difficult.

Pearson said the construction project will cost somewhere between $400,000 and $500,000. The current $4 parking price will be increased by as much as $2 to accommodate for the cost.

“This project will be in conjunction with the dredging of Watson Creek,” Pearson said. “We will be reconfiguring the parking lot from the current north-south format, to a more economical east-west format.”

The entrance will be moved about one-third of the way further into the lot. Also, with the new entrance, there will be a new cashier booth and 28 additional spaces will be added to the existing 161.

This comes as a relief to seven-year visitor parking lot cashier Madel Aguilar, who agrees that it’s about time something is being done to improve the lot.

“A lot of people have been complaining that they have to pay $4 for parking in a lot that is riddled by potholes,” Aguilar said. “It’s just not fair to the motorists.”

Matthew Huffine of Lake Zurich visited NIU last weekend for the football game. He said that seeing the visitor parking lot in its existing condition gave him a very bad first impression of NIU.

Pearson agrees that the improvements are necessary, but maintains that “it would be a waste of time and money just to put quick fixes on the lot now.”

“These improvements will be good for the university,” Pearson added.