WKU celebrated the opening of the $10 million Parking Structure 3 today during a ribbon cutting ceremony in Creason Lot.

PS3 officially opened in November and has been in use since its opening. Roughly 50 people attended this event.

SGA President Andi Dahmer said she was thrilled with the new parking structure.

“Now, it is able to alleviate the stress of parking,” she said.

President Timothy Caboni said parking is a tremendous issue on any university campus, and he wants to make sure there are as many available parking spaces on campus.

“I applaud the efforts of the Student Government Association and having the foresight to build this structure so that our young people have more places to park,” Caboni said. “I’m excited, not only for the structure, but also the way it represents the university.”

PS3 was an initiative funded through a $30 student semester fee. Both the Topper Transit Red Line and White Line stop at Creason Lot. As part of the project, the bus stop was moved to the left side of the parking structure for convenience and pedestrian safety.

Director of Parking and Transportation Services Jennifer Tougas said roughly 825 parking spaces have been lost over the past decade, which is the equivalent of Parking Structure 2.

“We get to celebrate today bringing most of those spaces back to WKU,” Tougas said. “It’s a good day to be parking on campus.”

PS3 is seven floors and contains 679 parking spaces including 14 disability spaces. It includes an electric vehicle charging station and an air pump station.

Owensboro freshman Haley Hamilton lives on campus and said she does not see a need for PS3.

“I always see Creason Lot empty, so I am not sure why a new structure was built,” Hamilton said. “It does not affect me, so I am not sure how it would affect others.”

A previous version of this story described the car in the photo as a Mustang. The car is a Corvette. The Herald regrets the error.

News reporter Ebony Cox can be reached at 270-745-6011 and [email protected].