Penn State U. is spending $665,000 on Gate A reconstruction at Beaver Stadium this summer — part of an effort to decrease the time students spend in line at home football games.
The improvements to the student gate will include 12 new entry kiosks, a baggage check area and a resolution booth for students whose tickets do not appear on their student IDs, university spokeswoman Lisa Powers said.
Powers said expansion plans to add new kiosks to the Gate A entrance of the stadium were put in place after several temporary kiosks were used to expedite entry into the stadium last year.
“We believe that students and other stadium patrons that enter through Gate A are going to have a faster and more organized passageway into the stadium this fall,” Powers said.
Paul Ruskin, Office of Physical Plant (OPP) spokesman, said construction on the gate started about six weeks ago and is set to be completed before the first game of the season — provided that good weather continues.
“We’re good at working around problems,” Ruskin said. “Let’s say we get a week of bad weather, we would work evenings and weekends.”
Ruskin said the worst case scenario is that the improvements would not be completed before the first game, when the Nittany Lions take on Youngstown State Sept. 4.
In that scenario, the stadium would operate with only the new kiosks that have been finished up to that point. But that situation is not very likely, Ruskin said.
“I don’t see much chance that we’ll miss our deadline, because we’ll find a way to make it,” he said.
G.M. McCrossin, Inc., a construction company from Bellefonte, was hired to make the improvements to the stadium while OPP employees are supervising the construction.
Ruskin said the stadium will also have seven new portable barricade systems added to increase security, traffic control and area safety for students walking to the gate.
Though the improvements will not change Paternoville’s location or size, Ruskin said there will be barriers placed around the sidewalks of the Paternoville section to increase student safety.
“All this is being done to enhance student safety and security at the events,” Ruskin said.