Cohen Parking Garage Project

Section 1: Summary

1.1 Objective
Cohen Parking Garage was designed to meet the client’s criteria and requirements. By considering all aspects of civil engineering. The team established the importance of the project and the objectives for a sustainable design that is going to be used for urban development. Furthermore, the team described the methods used to accomplish these goals.

1.2 Background
The city of El Paso, through strategic planning sessions, has established a vision to create safe and beautiful neighborhoods, a vibrant regional economy, and exceptional recreational, cultural, and educational opportunities. This can be observed through already existing investment across the city. One area of focus is the improvement of the Northeast, specifically the Cohen Stadium area–the former home of the El Paso Diablos. The first investment has resulted in the construction of a regional water park scheduled to be finished in 2020. A parking garage is planned to be the second investment.
The Cohen Stadium reinvestment area is planned to be used for many different purposes, but the main goal is providing entertainment to the residents of El Paso and generating sales tax revenue, as evidenced by the new water park. The parking garage is planned to be underground with a recreation center on top of it. The recreation center will be used primarily for basketball and volleyball. The recreation center requirements include concessions, locker rooms, basketball and volleyball courts, all preferably at grade. The parking garage’s preliminary proposal is to have 700 parking spots and two levels of parking (350 each) at least. That is why the development of Site and floor plans is one of the key themes of the project. The plans were developed in Revit by taking into consideration the given information.
It is essential to understand that the Northeast area’s investments are being made by taking intelligent risks. The budget of the project is 20 million dollars. The city of El Paso is funding 30% of the project. The other 70% of the funding is based on applying and fulfilling the criteria of the BUILD grant. This means that the funds requested for the grant are $13,930,000, and the city of El Paso will provide $5,970,000. Therefore, it is crucial to perform accurate cost estimates for the project. This information will be presented in the construction management part of the report. The team used RS Means and took into consideration the estimation of related projects. Furthermore, the team classified the costs into several categories and expanded the cost items based on the team’s architectural design.
This project is vital for the area as parking can be a sign of development. Most of the time, parking is a concern when going to an entertainment center where it can be a problem to find a parking spot. Developed cities do not have this issue. As El Paso’s main purpose for this investment is to be considered a developed city, it is crucial to have parking. Parking has a critical role in regulating traffic. Therefore, the design of the parking garage will count with the application of smart technologies. This will help the visitor to have a good experience, improving the overall experience.
At the meeting, the mentor mentioned the key themes of the project. The specifications were precise; the parking garage should have a minimum of 700 spaces. On the other hand, the recreation center will be used for basketball and volleyball tournaments. The team has the freedom to design the building as convenient and place it strategically. However, the mentor prohibited the parking garage from being placed in Cohen street as there is an ongoing construction. The budget for the project is 20 million. The project will be designed based on these assumptions.

Section 2: Transportation
2.1 Site
The Cohen Parking Garage will be located on the southwestern bound of the terrain, as shown in Figure 2.1,.1 Location. The area of where the new structure will stand consists of approximately three acres. Through this area a natural stream passes through. This causes water to accumulate in that area for a longer period of time, with a possibility of water acquiring higher velocities. Additionally, on the northwest part of the area there will have to be demolition done on an old parking lot that stands there to this day. Fortunately, it is such a small region, which allows the costs to remain balanced.

Figure 2.1.1 Location provided by Google

The area of where this garage will be built has minimum vegetation and a constant elevation throughout. Meaning, no abnormal heights are to be found.
2.2 Overall transportation model

Parking spaces
Cohen parking garage project is a recreation center with a parking lot beneath it. The recreation center area is 94,500 square feet. The municipal code of the city of El Paso states that the minimum number of parking spaces for an indoor athletic facility is 1/720 square feet. This indicates that the parking garage requires a minimum of 132 parking spaces.
The mentor asked the 915 – Construction team to design the parking lot for a similar value to 700 parking spots. For garages, the municipal code indicates that there is no minimum or maximum number of stalls. Therefore, the team was able to design the project to have 652 parking spots.

Land Use Automobile & light truck Dimensions Area (ft^2) Required stalls for Cohen garage
Minimum number of parking spaces
Athletic Facility (Indoor) 1/720 SF GFA 450 X 210 94500 132
Garage, Parking Not applicable 570 X 210 119,700 Open (652)
Table 2.2.1 – Parking requirements and standards.
ITE Trip Generation
The client wanted the 915 construction team to design the parking lot for a similar number to 700 vehicles. However, the team still wanted to estimate the parking demand. This, by using the ITE trip generation manual. Table 2.2.2 shows the expected number of vehicles to use the parking facility at a given time. The area of the site is 3 acres approximately. The calculations indicate that it requires 5 parking spots for every 1000 square feet for a sports complex. By following this formula, the parking required for the recreation center is 599 parking spots. Therefore, it is good to have an additional 53 spaces for special events.

Table 2.2.2 – Parking rate and peak per hour

Bicycle parking
The city of El Paso municipal code indicates that “When the minimum required automobile parking exceeds 60 spaces, 5% of the number required over 60 shall be added as required bicycle parking”. By following this regulation the team calculated that the required number of bicycle parking spaces for Cohen is 32 spaces. This number is less than the maximum number (40).

Figure 2.2.1 -Bicycle parking dimensions

Bicycle parking racks have been strategically located next to the main entrance to facilitate and incentivize bicycle users to visit the facility, their location is also a great factor to protect pedestrians and separate them from vehicles and to provide them with weather coverage. These designated parking spaces have been designed to protect users against theft.

Figure 2.2.2 – Bicycle parking location

Access and Exits
Cohen parking garage is an underground facility. Due to the garage’s zoning, it will not affect traffic as there are not considered major roads along the parking zone. Therefore, there are no conflicting movements in the area nor nearby intersections to consider for the design. This can be observed on the site plan that is provided below.

Figure 2.2.3 – Site Plan

In the site plan, the entrance ramp can be observed as well. The plan is to have a revenue control system at the end of the ramp, as it can be observed on figure . For the exit, the revenue control system will also be located at the end of the ramp. This, to avoid the queue and unnecessary traffic by taking advantage of the project’s ramps length.

Figure 2.2.4 – Entrance Ramp

Parking lot layout
The parking lot was designed by complying and taking into consideration municipal and Texas Department of Transportation codes. The 915 Construction team decided to design the parking garage layout by accommodating stalls at a 90-degree angle. This decision was made to use space efficiently. As can be observed in figure 2, stalls were placed on both sides of the aisles. The stall dimensions were found on the City of El Paso parking code municipal code chapter 20.14.
The dimensions required for 90-degree stalls are:
• Stall Depth: 18’ – 0”
• Aisle Width: 24’ – 0”
• Interlock reduction: 0’ – 0’

Figure 2.2.5 – Parking lot layout

Circulation pattern
To use space in an efficient manner the team decided to have two-way two lanes for the traffic flow.

Figure 2.2.6 – Circulation Pattern

Parking signs
One of the main objectives of the 915-construction team is to provide a safety system for parking users. This, by using traffic control devices. Furthermore, these devices will help guide the users through the Cohen parking garage. The expectation is to minimize accidents and consider circulation patterns for the project’s efficient operation. Table 2.2.3 shows the required signs that the project will need and gives the required specifications for their use.

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