Saturday, March 5, 2005
$19 MILLION RAMP OPENS IN DOWNTOWN LANSING
CITY GAINS 1,250 PARKING PLACES
PERMIT HOLDERS, PUBLIC GET ACCESS TO NEWEST GARAGE
By Tom Lambert
A new $19 million parking ramp at the corner of Townsend and Washtenaw streets opened for business Friday.
The 1,250-space facility will serve both hourly and permit parkers. Most motorists with permits are from the Accident Fund, State of Michigan and the Boji Group. The public will be allowed to park there too.
Stella Sorovigas, who owns the Parthenon Restaurant with her husband, Harris, said she isn’t sure if the extra parking would alleviate the parking shortage downtown.
“If it frees up some spaces for merchants along Washington (Square), then it will help,” she said. “We will have to wait and see.”
The project took 16 months to complete, city officials said. Mayor Tony Benavides said it is the first parking ramp the city has opened in about 20 years. The city now has four parking ramps. “This will help serve visitors to the Capitol and other downtown state buildings,” he said.
It is also the first parking ramp in the Lansing area with Automatic Vehicle Identification technology for access control, Benavides said.
This technology, similar to that used on some toll roads and bridges, enables permit parkers to enter the ramp without having to roll down their window to use an access card.
The facility also will offer customers the option of paying with cash at the attended exit or by credit card at the non-attended exit.