Crews will begin to break concrete Thursday as the first step in the new plan for parking and traffic in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.

Sections of concrete will be cut out and new concrete will be poured on the east side of the Union and the north side of the Union Bridge Walkway in preparation for the permanent closing of south parking lot entrance.

The construction will not affect traffic or parking in the Union until Oct. 22, 23 and 24 when the north entrance to the parking lot will be closed to traffic. A barricade will be placed on the north lot entrance while crews repave the area, remark parking spaces and draw a line to make two lanes of traffic.

The refigured parking spaces will make more room for the added traffic in the lot. The lot has to become two lanes because when the Doudna Fine Art Center is finished, all Union traffic will have to access through the north parking entrance near the south entrance of the Union.

In February or March, once the university has received bids to begin the Doudna Fine Arts Center renovation and construction, a barricade will block the south parking entrance of the Union and traffic will no longer be able to go through the horseshoe, Strode said.