By Mark Rea

The new parking garage adjacent to the Toyota Center and its parking garage will provide a first-class experience for patrons. The garage holds just over 2,500 spaces on two city blocks located across the street from the arena.

The facility is designed for both event and non-event usage. During typical weekdays, the garage will be filled with users from nearby office towers in the downtown area.
They will access the garage via an Automatic Vehicle Identification system, similar to those used on the area's toll roads.

Event users will be able to use a garage designed specifically for their needs. With flat floors for easier access and dedicated speed ramps for between-floor travel, the garage is designed for high vehicle and foot traffic. Pedestrians are also treated to an upgraded transportation system with two escalators, several elevators and wide staircases. Additionally, the third floor has direct access to the arena via a skybridge spanning Bell Street.

Wireless credential scanners at the entrance plaza will speed the entering process and help ensure a proper audit trail. A dynamic message system will inform drivers of the changing needs required of the dual-use facility.

The arena and garage are designed as an integrated whole, with some functions for the arena moved to the garage side to enhance the aesthetics and streetscape of the arena.

For example, the loading dock for the arena is accessed through a tunnel passing through the garage and underneath the street.

The tunnel also accommodates an unusual design goal: elephant access to the arena floor. Indeed, circus elephants will not walk down a grade of greater than 6 percent, so the slope of the tunnel ramp is minimized to allow them access through the truck dock.

Houston-based Tellepsen LP was the general contracting firm for construction of the parking structure and Walter P. Moore & Associates Inc. of Houston provided parking consulting services.

Matthew L. Feagins is a senior parking consultant with Walter P. Moore & Associates Inc. and a member of the National Parking Association's Parking Consultants Council.