Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

A solution to City's parking problems

By K.Satyamurty

Bangalore July 7 . Getting 10 cars parked in a 6' by 12' space may well be the solution to the problem of finding parking space in some of Bangalore's busiest locations.

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Commissioner, M.R.Sreenivasa Murthy, announced last weekend that tenders would soon be called for mechanical parking facilities to be set up on a Build-Operate-Transfer basis. These would be in addition to multi-level parking lots now being constructed on Magarath Road, Kempegowda Road and JC Road.

Making mechanical multi-level car parking possible is Armatic Engineering Pvt. Ltd. of Bangalore, which has designed a vertical parking system, termed a Tower Park. Built after studying the ``number of cars in and out per hour'' rate, the company has come out with a modular design to accommodate up to 40 cars and its multiples in a limited space.

Vertical steel structures are built according to the need. For a 40-car unit, 10 levels each for four cars will be provided. This will come as two vertical structures on either side of an escalator path for lifting the cars. The cars are first driven onto a base platform and them moved into the vacant parking slots on any one of the levels above.

This facility can be semi-automatic with an attendant escorting the car to the pre-determined space or it can be automatic with computerised controls. The dimension of each slot (5 x 2 x 2 metres) has been designed to accommodate cars of almost all models with a maximum weight up to 1,600 kg. These automated multi-level parking lots have several advantages, according to the engineers at Armatic. The risks of damage and theft are almost nil. There is more parking space and roadsides are spared for the increasing traffic rather than for parking. Drivers are spared the ordeal of endlessly searching for an elusive parking slot.

From the environmental angle, multi-level mechanical parking is expected to reduce emission from cars, as the engine need not be running while being parked. A car idling or running in lower gears emits more harmful gases.

The existing horizontal parking lots have severe restrictions and a two-tier parking may be feasible in certain locations. This has already been tried out at the Manipal Centre Complex on Dickenson Road. This arrangement is best suited to parking between buildings as in large commercial complexes, housing colonies and factory premises.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Southern States

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Akshara Dasoha should be continued: Shankar
• A solution to City's parking problems
• Autorickshaw passenger suffers `bullet injury'
• Five killed in road mishaps
• Youth arrested, stolen articles recovered

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu