Going vertical can ease Abu Dhabi parking woes

This content was originally posted in 7DAYS UAE website at: Going vertical can ease Abu Dhabi parking woes Rapidly expanding cities should consider building upwards to cope with ever-greater parking demands, a Gulf Traffic Week event has heard. Blake Laufer, vice president, research, at parking management firm T2 Systems in Canada, told delegates that automated valet systems are the way forward. Drivers simply leave their vehicle at the base of the multi-storey tower and it is lifted to a higher tier, such as  in VW’s Autostadt building Wolfsburg, Germany. Laufer told the Smart Parking and Planning session: “We have already entered a phase where there are more cars expected than a parking lot can hold at numerous public locations. In rush hours especially, finding parking is becoming the main concern and very time- consuming in most metro cities. Multi-storey automated car parking is the answer to that, like the one inaugurated in Delhi in 2011 with car lift and pallets. All you have to do is leave your car in the basement.” The exhibition also heard that Mawaqif – the parking wing of the Department of Transport Abu Dhabi – has plans in place to build numerous multi-storey parking lots across the city to address the issues in the capital, though not the automated ones detailed at the summit. Abdullah Al Ali, from Mawaqif, told 7DAYS  that parts of Abu Dhabi have “major parking problems” and building upwards could alleviate this. He said: “Our aim is to address the parking issues in early 2016. The plans are in place, the land has been bought, and we know how to solve this parking problem. We are only waiting for the budget, vision and approvals to get work under way. We plan to build numerous multi-storey parking within Abu Dhabi city, one being in Sector E1 near the Central Market. “Our aim is to get work under way early next year and build more multi-storey parking in areas that are witnessing a major parking problem.” mahak@7days.ae Read the original story at: Going vertical can ease Abu Dhabi parking woes