No place left for parking beneath I-4
With the quiet closing of a 25-space lot along West Robinson Street this month, Orlando has ended public parking underneath Interstate 4, long one of the most visible parking areas for downtown visitors.
The closing of the Robinson lot — and two others totaling 845 spaces in April — was prompted by construction for the I-4 Ultimate highway renovation. The lots will stay closed after that work is done, to make way for the city’s planned urban park called Under-I.
City officials say there is no shortage of places to park downtown. Even without the I-4 lots, there are more than 28,000 public spaces in the urban core, and many garages are underused, said Cassandra Lafser, a spokeswoman for Mayor Buddy Dyer.
“It doesn’t have a significant impact, in that we
have plenty of parking,” the city’s transportation director, Billy Hattaway, said about the I-4 lot closings. “Obviously, [those lots] may be more convenient for some people, and it’s certainly more visible, in that you don’t have to look for a sign for a parking garage.”
Around lunchtime Thursday, a public lot on North Garland Avenue across from the fenced-off former I-4 lots was nearly full, though cars came and went fairly frequently, so spaces were often available.
Taylor Hile, a 27-year-old tailor, said he parked in that lot or used on-street parking downtown several times a week, usually to visit clients at downtown law firms. Knowing where to look, he said, is key.
During the day, “I haven’t found it to be too hard,” he said, though he added that at times, “it’s almost impossible to park at night.”
Downtown resident and Orlando Weekly designer Chris “Tobar” Rodriguez, 31, echoed Hile’s observation that knowledge of the terrain can be the difference between parking with relative ease and a more frustrating experience.
“For an outside tourist or a person who doesn’t know downtown, they have trouble parking,” he said.
Hattaway said the problem can be helped by technology. The city is working to modernize its parking system, to make it easier for visitors to see where spaces are available in real time online and to reserve parking ahead of time in public lots and garages, he said.
Eventually, he said, customers who buy tickets to a Magic game, an Orlando City Soccer match or a show at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts could soon be prompted to buy reserved parking along with their tickets.
“We feel like all of those things, together, are going to help address the issue,” Hattaway said.
City officials have big plans for the space beneath I-4. Early designs for the Under-I project have shown a sprawling network of park, gathering and performance spaces, as well as basketball courts, soccer fields, a playground and skateboard ramps.
The concept is part of a larger goal of city planners to better link the east and west sides of downtown, long divided by the highway. Development of the Under-I is not expected to begin until after the $2.3 billion I-4 Ultimate project wraps up in 2021.
People interviewed downtown gave mixed opinions about the idea of a park under I-4. Hile said he would prefer the space be used for parking, while Rodriguez said he hoped it would become a bright and active area, suggesting that a farmers market could be a good fit.
“I love the vision of trying to eliminate a divider. I-4 is the classic symbolic divider of downtown,” said Croy Bosch, 33, who works downtown at PowerDMS, a software firm. “That’s all in the execution.”
Amanda Day, executive director of Bike/Walk Central Florida, said the city’s embrace of technology, as well as driving alternatives such as bike-share and SunRail, should make downtown Orlando a much easier place to get around. But the transition could be rocky.
“It’s really cool what they’re doing for the future, but I think right now, the pain of not being able to find parking is probably traumatic for certain people and certain drivers,” she said. “Growth is about change, and pain, and evolving, and shifting mind-sets.”
For now, those visiting downtown should consider their parking plans before they arrive and be ready for the road and ramp closings and construction delays wrought by I-4 Ultimate, officials say.
“The best thing for people to do when they’re thinking of coming downtown would be to plan ahead, to think about where they want to park — and to get here early,” Hattaway said.