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My first posted idea so please bear with
me.
Parking lots are sized to the average load
for a facility, but there are always some
times when that's just not enough. Be it
the mall at Christmas time, or the local
stadium when the team is in the play-
offs,
there are just to many cars.
That's where flat pack parking comes in.
This is a simple to assemble parking
deck
that mounts over the existing parking
lot.
It's made of steel trusses and flat
(possibly
heavy gauge honeycomb steel) sections
that simply snap together. These
sections
are designed to be brought in on a flat
bed truck, assembled either with a winch
and hand tools, built in hydraulics, or a
crane also mounted on the truck.
Conveniences such as lighting for the
now
covered area, stairs, and anything else
are
all built in, with simple plug in
connections for power.
When the parking is not needed it's
either
packed away in the basement
(eliminating
the need for year round maintainence) or
returned to the rental company until next
time.
This has been common in NYC for decades
http://aclifts.com/parking/
[Ronx, Dec 25 2006]
Also cool
http://aclifts.com/...s/images/cnn_bb.wmv
Robotic storing of cars [Ronx, Dec 25 2006]
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Annotation:
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I haven't done the math, but maybe it would be practical to prestage this on a series of tractor-trailers. Just parallel park them, hook them up, lift and configure, and presto, elevated parking garage. |
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[normzone] I was definitely thinking
more than one section per trailer, but if
you started at one end, raised the entire
row, pulled forward one length and
repeated, that would make installation a
lot simpler. You'd have to do
something fancier for ramps and such
though. |
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Given modern alloys, wild things could be achieved <Wild thing......you make my heart sing......you make everything..groovy> |
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This would be good in the summer time if you park on the ground level. |
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[Ronx] The advantage of this system
over a lift is full accesiblity and no
active components once it is in place.
With a lift you have to remove the lower
car, before you can get to the next one.
Also, for commercial use you have to
have an operator, even with the robotic
one. |
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Flat pack parking is a setup and go
system. It provides a full second
parking level with drive in and out
access identical to a normal parking
garage. It should also be cheaper on a
per space basis, and easier to move
around when the extra capacity is no
longer needed. |
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I think you're working with a false
premise here. All the parking lots near
me seem to be sized for maximum load
(or close to it), not average load.
Parking lots at the shopping malls
around here usually have oodles of
empty spaces. They really only fill up on
the very busiest days. |
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If my supposition that parking lots are
sized for maximum load, then adding
more parking during busy times would
only create more problems, because
there are lots of other systems that
would also have to scale up temporarily
to handle all the people that your
temporary parking brings in. The mall
would have to bring in port-a-pottys,
for example. It would have to negotiate
with the local fire inspector to increase
the maximum occupancy ratings. And it
would have to work with the police
department to change the traffic
patterns and maybe get some cops to
direct traffic in order to handle the
extra cars. |
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To the degree that a mall or other
facility is able to handle more
customers than the parking lots allow,
the facility should look to solutions
such as mass transit to bring in those
people. |
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[ThinkTwice] Some parking lots may be
sized for maximum load, some are to
typical load, many are done to space
available. Maybe I erred in choosing
malls as my primary use suggestion, as
they often do have ample parking. But
events, churches, airports, anything
else that requires more parking at peak
times would be able to use this. |
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I agree that mass transit would be a
better choice, but it is not always
available, convienient, or practical.
This would also allow parking lots to be
sized for average load, eliminating
some of the wasted space around malls,
or the overflow parking areas at
airports. |
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// If my supposition that parking lots are sized for maximum load, then adding more parking during busy times would only create more problems // |
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Actually it wouldn't.. at least not with the malls and shopping centers built around the 1960's and 70's. I have gone places where there has been a full parking lot and a half-empty building which is a result of single-occupant driving that has increased in the last 20 years. There was a time when there were either more people in a car at a time or they were using mass transit to get to the mall. The amount of cars in a parking lot is not as indicitave to the occupancy of a building as it once was so I figure that if you increased the parking capacity it would have little impact on the overall capacity of the building. |
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Most malls (at least where I live) and special events have optional or sometimes mandatory valet parking during times when parking is scarce. |
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The valet parking increase total capacity because self parking uses 50% of the space for access to spots. |
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A key difficulty with the proposed system is weight bearing and foundations. Building a strong portable deck and strong portable pillars is a straightforward engineering challenge, but without some sort of footer those pillars are going to sink right through the asphalt into the ground below and the whole structure will collapse. |
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I know I'm bumping my own, very old, idea, but a new
application just occurred to me today. It probably does
require the addition of a shaker element to the
structure. It also requires that the decking be porous
honeycomb rather than skinned, but otherwise it should
be possible. |
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Put the structure up before the first snow fall, and turn
the shaker on during the snow fall. All of the snow falls
through the decking into the original parking area due to
the vibration, and all of your customers can park on the
deck. No more plowing needed, and you just have to
shovel the base of the stairs and a narrow path to your
entrance. |
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Putting shopping carts overhead at the local Wal Mart
would free up two parking spaces for each shopping cart corral raised. |
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Getting the carts up there and back down without liability law suits would be a sticking point. |
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The space next to handicap parking could also support a second floor deck, Maybe space for vending machines with a 2 story drop or security cams. |
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The problem with using this for snow issues is that
it would be needed for long periods of time in the
winter by all stores in the area. I can't image that
it would be cost effective to move it around
multiple times per year to follow snow storms, and
unless you found enough customers to rent them
during the summer, it wouldn't end up being cost
effective. |
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It seems to me like it would be more effective to
build a 3 story parking garage, so the bottom two
levels are fully available during snowy times. Or
put the parking under the building. |
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