Austin May Ease Parking-Space Rules Downtown
Parking garages cost up to $25,000 per space to build, and they rarely if ever fill up. Photo courtesy Bruce Turner at flickr.com/whiskeytango/Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Anyone who drives in Austin knows it can be a hassle to park downtown, especially when there’s an event going on. But some developers say building parking spaces is an even bigger hassle.
Vicky Garza with the Austin Business Journal reports that the city of Austin may eliminate parking requirements for development in the Central Business District. She spoke with KUT’s Emily Donahue about the costs and how many existing spaces are actually used.
Austin’s parking requirements have resulted in an abundance of ugly structures that are vastly underutilized, Riley said, adding that occupancy in downtown parking garages averages 26 percent.
Also, “parking requirements subsidize driving by hiding the cost of parking in higher costs for everything else, making downtown more expensive and more congested,” he said.
Estimates place the cost of structured parking in Austin at $20,000 to $25,000 per space. Parking also affects site layout for new development.
Podcast: Download (3.7MB)
