Construction has continued on Tiger Stadium this summer asfootball season and another run at a national title has drawncloser.
Even in light of the new season, workers will continue theongoing renovations to the stadium after the Tigers’ kickoffagainst Oregon State Sept. 4.
“Construction is moving along,” said Herb Vincent, associateathletics director. “We have had to deal with some rain and weatherissues, but it has gone well.”
The renovations to the West Upper Deck will continue throughoutthe season, but Vincent said they are not expected to cause anymajor problems or affect seating.
“So far everything is going okay,” said LSU Athletic DirectorSkip Bertman. “Workers are working 12-hour days instead of eight tomake up for the rain in May and June. They’re taking advantage ofthe good weather.”
There will not be as much pedestrian access available directlybeneath the upper deck this season, but all gates will remain openand all seats that were available for the 2003 season will remainavailable, Vincent said.
Bertman said that officials are having weekly meetings and haveconducted a run-through to see how things will go on game day. Hesaid their main concern is safety.
“Gates One through Five are affected by construction so therewill be small passageways for people to move through,” Vincentsaid.
Vincent and Bertman both said they encourage fans to move totheir seats about 30 minutes earlier. Gates will open earlier thanthey have in past years and the band will also make their pre-gamemarch down North Stadium Drive earlier than usual.
Vincent also said students should only use Gates Six and Seventhis season. Students will not enter through Gate Five.
The University expects the $60 million renovations to becompleted before the start of the 2005 football season.
One drawback of the stadium construction is the loss ofapproximately 90 percent of the Lot A parking lot, located directlywest of Tiger Stadium, Vincent said.
“Unfortunately we lost many spots due to the construction,”Vincent said. “We have just had to push back those spots into Lot Cand other spaces to make room.”
In addition to construction, the Office of Parking, Traffic andTransportation got a late start on mailing commuter parking tagsdue to a delay at the printing office.
According to Gary Graham, director of Parking, Traffic andTransportation, parking tickets will not be issued for expiredparking tags during the first week of classes.
The department will issue a broadcast e-mail further instructingstudents of the parking situation.
Workers constructed a new parking lot at Nicholson and Gourrieralong with gravel driveways. Workers also expanded the lot acrossfrom the Vet School.
South Stadium Drive has been closed during the summer but openedone week before classes began, Graham said.
Along with the renovations to Tiger Stadium, there is alsoongoing work on the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Workers completed the new roof atop the PMAC and are 90 percentfinished on the inside concourse where they are cleaning floors andinstalling historical photographs and memorabilia, Vincentsaid.
There are also plans to replace the seating in the PMAC at theend of the upcoming basketball season, Vincent said.
Staff Writer Michael Beagle contributed to this story.