After a two-week delay, the UCSB campus opens its new $20 million parking structure today on Mesa Road next to the Engineering and Sciences buildings.

Associate Director of Transportation and Parking Services Robert Sundberg said the structure has approximately 600 parking spaces and will most likely be named 10 Parking. He said 10 Parking is a faculty and staff parking lot on weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., but is also open to students and visitors after 5 p.m. and all day on weekends.

Sundberg said the new parking structure includes 40 coastal access parking spaces. He said visitors can purchase up to four hours of coastal access parking at pay machines located on the first level of the structure.

According to the Transportation and Parking Services (TPS) website, pay stations do not give change and only accept $1 and $5 bills. From 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., parking permits cost $2 for 30 minutes, $3 for one hour and $8 for a full day.

The website also said parking costs $2 on weeknights after 5 p.m., $2 for all-day weekend parking, and 25 cents for every five minutes in metered parking spaces.

TPS Assistant Director Laura Condon said the parking structure is maintained through the purchase of parking permits.

“The parking structure is fully rate-payer funded,” Condon said.

Sundberg said it took approximately two years to build the multi-million dollar structure. Condon said construction took longer than expected.

“The goal was to have it open the first day of Winter Quarter, but that might have been too optimistic,” Condon said.

Sundberg said 10 Parking and the engineering Engineering and Sciences buildings are built on the site of the previous parking lot, which was formerly known as Parking Lot 10. He said the new structure has the same number of parking spaces as its predecessor, but its multi-level design created more room for the construction of the new California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI).

According to the CNSI website, UCSB and UCLA will both conduct research concerning bio-nanofabrication, sophisticated imaging and spectroscopy at the new facility once it is completed. Construction on the $53-million CNSI building began in November 2003 and is slated to finish sometime in April.