The Design of Parking Garages Has Changed Over The Years

I find myself touring our many parking garages — to check how they are used, their condition and so on.

Our older garages are not space efficient at all.  The buildings they replaced were considered “obsolete” for modern use but we know how to adapt old buildings to new uses. Old garages just languish.

The old spirals for ramps gave way to sloping parking decks to get you from level to level, this is what we still have today.  I hope to see much more efficient parking systems here one day.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0iUPtjfByU

Parking like this would allow us to replace our above ground garages with…buildings occupied by humans.  Some might say we have cheap land so there is no incentive to build more compactly. To that I’d say we have policies that have encouraged poor use of land. We need to change our policies so we use our core urban area more efficiently.

– Steve Patterson

The Key To Paying The Parking Meter Is A Key

I’ve heard of a key to the city but I recently learned some cities offer keys to parking meters:

Both Springfield IL and Champaign IL offer keys to people to use to pay parking fees. From Champaign’s CaskKey website:

What is the CashKey?

The CashKey is a programmable key that provides a cashless way to pay at parking meters. The CashKey can be carried on your key chain and eliminates the need to carry coins for the meters.

CashKeys can be used at any City of Champaign, City of Urbana or University of Illinois parking meter. Each key carries three accounts (a separate one for each parking provider) and $10 to $100 of value can be purchased for use at each type of meter.

How to Use a CashKey:

The CashKey functions like an American quarter. The first time the key is inserted into a meter, the amount of value on account for that parking provider is displayed. Each subsequent time the key is inserted is like depositing a quarter into the meter providing the user with the minutes of parking in accordance with the rate posted at each meter. For example, at a $.75 per hour meter, each insertion will provide 20 minutes of time at the meter; at a $.25 per hour meter, an insertion will provide one hour worth of parking time. The CashKey will not register more than the posted time allowed for that meter, but it will continue to deduct $.25 from the account each time it’s inserted. If the key is left inserted for more than 5-seconds, the meter will flash in the out-of-order mode until the key is removed. This is to alert the user in case the CashKey is inadvertently left in the meter.

The CashKey doesn’t guarantee you a parking space. Parking meter spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis. The CashKey can be used in conjunction with coins.

Purchasing a CashKey and/or Time:

The initial cost of the key is $19.50 and $10 to $100 of time can be purchased for each parking provider. Keys and/or time can be purchased at the following locations:

* City of Champaign Parking Programs Office (713 Edgebrook Dr.)
* City of Champaign Finance Department (2nd floor of City Building, 102 N. Neil St.)
* City of Urbana Finance Department (400 S. Vine St, Urbana)
* University of Illinois Facilities and Services Parking Department (1110 W. Springfield Ave.)
* Purchases must be made in person at one of the above locations. There is not an online purchase or reloading option.

If you find you aren’t using time loaded for one meter provider, the value can be transferred over to a different one.

I like this idea as a way to make it easier to ensure you have the ability to pay the meter.

– Steve Patterson

Poorly Located Bike Rack Outside Chicago Whole Foods

Last weekend I was in Chicago.  Passing by the Whole Foods at Cicero & Peterson I spotted a poorly located bike rack:

So what makes this “poorly located?”  First I should note this type of rack, the inverted-U, is my favorite rack. I also like that the rack is highly visible.  But this rack is designed to hold one bike per side — two per side if they don’t mind being locked together.  But the distance away from the wall makes using the back side difficult.  The raised planter to the right is going to make it hard to secure the bike with both wheels on the sidewalk. Centering the rack on a portion of the wall took priority over function.  Bike racks should be functional before anything else.

– Steve Patterson

Filling the void at Broadway & Washington Ave

A week ago I did a post looking at a stretch of Washington Ave downtown (Improving Washington Ave between 10th Street and the Eads Bridge/Mississippi River).  Everything I suggested was basic active street 101 — fewer travel lanes, on-street parking, movable street furnishings at large plazas and active facades.  Not banners or other lame efforts that don’t work.  But I did have one suggestion that went beyond the basics — a new restaurant structure at the NE corner of Washington Ave & Broadway.

The existing corner, as you can see above, is lifeless and dated.  Ideally this corner would once again be filled in with buildings as was the case in 1909:

But that isn’t going to happen, unfortunately. The blue in the above map indicates a building with a stone facade so my guess is when this corner was razed the stone wall we see today was offered as a consultation consolation prize to make up for the lost building(s).  It doesn’t cut it.

So here I will detail my suggestion from last week.  Build a 2-story restaurant at the corner (blue, above) with an outdoor patio (purple) surrounded by landscaping (green).  The orange would be a future thin “liner building” to provide storefront spaces facing Broadway that would screen the surface parking lot. The remaining parking lot would need to be reconfigured as well as providing a walkway from the parking lot to both Washington Ave and to Broadway.

The restaurant might be a national or local chain looking to open a downtown location in their own building or even a public restaurant owned and operated by the Missouri Athletic Club, offering a casual outdoor option for members and the public.  An absolute must is the entrance to the new restaurant be at the corner, onto one or both public sidewalks. Building a new restaurant on the corner of this parking lot is not unlike the practice of building in mall parking lots. The difference here is the new building gets immediately connected via existing sidewalks.

With a MetroLink light rail station a block to the west, the new Downtown Trolley bus running right in front of the property, and the addition of on-street parking on both Washington Ave and Broadway the loss of the off-street spaces would be minimal. The new restaurant with outdoor patio and storefronts along Broadway would raise the visual image of this intersection, more in line with the upscale character of MAC.

With early bird parking rates of only $4.50/day it is not difficult to imagine a higher return on the land from occupied space, especially space that increases activity in the area.

– Steve Patterson

Motorcycle & scooter parking needed in our region

Before my 2008 stroke I got around on a 49cc Honda Metropolitan scooter.  Because of the small displacement engine it did not need to be licensed by the Missouri (some states require registering all scooters regardless of engine size).  I’d park in out of the way places but at times I’d get notes from officers suggesting I park in a metered parking spot.  My scooter was tiny and would be lost in a space.

Recently I noticed a much larger scooter parked at a meter on Lindell Blvd near Grand Ave. What I don’t know is if the space was empty when the scooter was parked or if the owner slipped in front of a car that left before I took the photo.  Either way you can see the ridiculousness of having fixed-length parking – the one-size-fits-all formula that wastes lots of space.

In high demand areas we need to have motorcycle & scooter parking. In the space of one car you can fit in parking for 3-6 motorcycles/scooters.  For payment you use pay-per-space machines:

You pay for the number for the slot you park in. Regular meters can also be used where you have 2-3 spaces.  By creating the spaces perpendicular to the curb line you can fit in many motorcycles & scooters.  Motorists will be less frustrated by not having a scooter taking a full space.  Riders will be happy having a designated space for their compact tw0-wheeled vehicles. The city will collect additional revenue.

– Steve Patterson