It is too soon to tell what nightmarish effect Faraday II’s construction will have on NIU’s parking problems.

“The first week of school is always chaotic,” said Helen Nodurft, manager of the NIU campus parking services. “Not everyone is back on campus,” she said.

Nodurft said that although no complaints have been lodged yet about the closing of lot 36, located south of Founders Memorial Library, and the elimination of lot 9, southwest of Faraday Hall, she expects them soon.

“Of course (the lost parking spaces due to construction) is going to be a problem,” Nodurft said.

Nodurft said 174 parking spaces are gone now that lot 36, which has 81 spaces, is being used as a staging area for construction and lot 9, which holds 93 spaces, is blocked off for construction.

However, spaces in lot 36 will reopen once the project is complete. Construction of NIU’s new science building began in June and will continue for the next two years.

Nodurft said the campus parking services has done its best to minimize the effects by making sure that no one group lost more than the next.

The parking service has tried to compensate commuters by adding 75 spaces to lot A, located at the end of Kishwaukee Drive.

Lot 5, south of Newman Drive next to the pay lot, has also been changed. Last year lot 5 was half commuter, but this year it is entirely held for faculty parking, Nodurft said.

James Grosklags, assistant chair of the biology department, said the most pressing problem will be the inconvenience it causes. “Now you find yourself having to walk three blocks instead of maybe one,” Grosklags said.

Grosklags expects the problem to get worse as the semester wears on. “Some people who were walking today will soon begin switching to their cars,” he said.

Nodurft said she agreed the most severe problem will not show up until later on in the semester but added, “I don’t know if anything else is going to be done this semester.”