I never gave a thought to the terminology until I encourntered an article in the Star Tribune which notes that Minnesotans and some adjacent Midwesterners are unique in applying the term to what others consider to be a "parking garage."
Google Trends, which tracks searches of specific terms, ranks Minnesota first in the nation for "parking ramp" searches. It was followed by Iowa and Wisconsin. Parking "garage" is more evenly distributed across the country, but Minnesota ranks 46th.
The earliest parking facilities, most in dense Northeastern cities, were enclosed buildings where cars were carried up and down by elevators — no ramps involved — so "garage" made sense."We never had these garages here," said Bill Lindeke, an urban geographer, writer and U instructor who has written on this subject. So the earliest parking facilities were designed with ramps...The term "garage" initially applied to below-ground facilities here, Drew said, with "ramp" referring to above-ground structures. Most above-ground ramps in Minnesota have open-air designs with partial walls, he noted, because they are cheaper to build and operate, not requiring ventilation or sprinklers...Also, he said, around 1970 builders around the country started designing structures that were entirely made of ramps — driving lanes sloped at about 5 degrees with parking on either side. These caught on because they packed more cars into a smaller space...Minnesotans aren't the only people with a quirky term for these structures, however.People in other areas around the country say "parking structure" (on the West Coast) and "parking deck" (in the Southeast), Drew said. "Parking terrace" is a term that is "apparently used only in Utah," according to the book "The High Cost of Free Parking" by University of California professor Donald Shoup.Perhaps the most fun term is "parkade," a favorite in Canada that sounds like a place you'd go for entertainment.
I think here in RI we use "parking garage"?
ReplyDeleteIt's a multi-storey car park in my part of the world (Australia). A regular car park is one that is just at ground level.
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned concerning the southeast, I can confirm Alabama uses parking deck. I would have guessed only the ones with parking on the ramps would be parking ramps. But then again, sometimes the whole structure is a continuous ramp instead of a series of flat levels with ramps between them.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what the ones with corkscrew ramps are called.
I do remember corkscrew ramps. Never liked them since they seemed to be steep and with tight curves.
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