Skip to Content
Streetsblog San Francisco home
Streetsblog San Francisco home
Log In
Streetsblog.net

Parking Madness 2019: Minneapolis vs. Oakland

We're on to round two in Parking Madness — this year's Sweet 16-style competition to find the Most Improved Parking Crater () in the U.S. is down to the Elite Eight.

But before we move on, here's a reminder: Voting is still open in the competition between Albuquerque and Tampa to determine the last qualifier for the quarterfinals.

Today's first Elite Eight matchup will explore two cities who have done a great job repairing parking craters — surface parking lots in dense urban areas.

parking madness 2019 elite eight 1
false

Meanwhile, let's check out today's matchup: Minneapolis vs. Oakland.

Minneapolis

mpls_parkingcrater_2_OIiXh
false
mpls_parkingcrater_2_dHNvU
false
mpls_parkingcrater_2_vktYj
false

This is one of those mega parking crater infill examples that we have a number of in the competition. Reader Alex Schieferdecker, who nominated this site, writes:

Not too long ago, this was a moonscape of parking lots and one or two bars and a souvenir shop serving the moon kingdom itself, the Metrodome.

Now, it’s got a new stadium, new park, a new light rail connection through its existing station, new office buildings, new hotels, a Trader Joe’s, and a lot more residential, with even more on the way.

This site, U.S. Bank Stadium, is a stop on both Minneapolis's Blue and Green light rail lines, which surely helped fix this parking crater.

But Minneapolis has seen an impressive amount of infill development throughout the city in recent years. At least one local expert says that's how the city managed to actually lower driving miles, even as its population increased — the holy grail for sustainable transportation.

Oakland

This is a transit station, the BART MacArthur Station, that is turning from a park-and-ride into more of a live-and-ride.

Oakland before
false
oakland bart after
false

This submission comes to us from reader Adriana Valencia, who writes, "Still in-progress. But impressive transformation nevertheless!"

The seven-acre lot is being redeveloped with a total of 880 new housing units, 143 will be offered at a subsidized rate for people who qualify based on income. Much of the housing will have retail on the ground floor.

In other words, it will be walkable, it will be transit accessible and it will be mixed-income. The bad news is, as you can see in the photo, it will still contain a lot of parking, with a little under 500 spaces in the garage you can se in the picture.

Nevertheless, the project is being rated in the Neighborhood Design category as LEED Gold, the rating system that considers how the development will impact transportation emissions.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog San Francisco

SFMTA Approves Merchant-Driven, ‘Holistic’ Plan for West Portal

SFMTA board again fails in its role to put transit, safety, and city wide interests above parochial politics

July 17, 2024

Call to Action: Demand a Safe West Portal

The San Francisco Transit Riders wants YOU to urge the SFMTA Board of Directors to approve stronger West Portal safety and transit improvements

July 15, 2024
See all posts