The big ramps were funded in part with substantial federal funds in a complex cost
sharing formula. In addition, the ramps were designed primarily as transit hubs, and
were
designed for commuter traffic -- not the onslaught you'd see at the end of a game.
Ramps designed for that kind of intermittent very high volume exit flow are excessively
expensive to build and an inefficient use of funds, yadda, yadda, yadda. Hope this
clears up part of the mystery. For the rest call the city transportation dept -- they
operate the ramps.
"David Brauer" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>@mnforum.org on 04/17/2001 03:17:13 PM
Sent by: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: "Mpls list" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
cc:
Subject: [Mpls] Fun with parking ramps
Went to the Wolves game on Sunday and encountered an interesting flyer as I
was pulling into the Fifth Street TAD ramp (the middle of the big 394-linked
suckers on the western edge of downtown).
The flyers, handed out by parking attendants, basically ask Timberwolves
fans to go elsewhere to park before the game. As I can tell you from
experience, all those Wolves fans exiting from the 7th and 5th street ramps
causes a tremendous logjam. I talked to a friend at the Wolves who said the
long wait to get out is one of two perennial complaints fans have (the other
is the Target Center food service).
I told him, "man, you must have some pull with the city because you have
people at city-owned ramps, which produce revenue for the city parking fund,
handing out fliers telling people to go to privately owned ramps with their
parking money. I know you're a major tenant in our city-owned building, but
boy, we are putting out for you!"
A couple of points:
1. The fliers do direct people to several other ramps: the 4th street TAD
ramp (publicly owned), but also the LaSalle Court, Dayton's, and Rapid Park
ramps, which are privately owned. We are doing Wolves fans (our downtown's
customers) a favor, but we're also helping these private owners make cash at
our city parking fund's expense. (The Hawthorne Transportation Center and
Hennepin & 10th ramps are also listed, but I'm not sure who owns those.)
I asked my Wolves source what the goal of the program was, and he said to
get 1,000 to 2,000 parkers out of the 5th & 7th street ramps. At $6 a car,
if half of those people go to privately owned ramps, the city's parking fund
loses $125,000 to $250,000 a year.
2. If 19,000 Wolves fans cause such commotion, what the heck is going to
happen if a 40,000-seat ballpark is built on the Rapid Park site? Massive
parking availability is supposed to be a strength of the location, but if
we're already admitting it doesn't work for large events...
And of course, the other big question: who designed ramps that lots of
people couldn't get out of quickly? (By the way, on game nights, you pay on
the way in, not out.) It's not like we didn't know Target Center was going
to be there...
David Brauer
King Field - Ward 10
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