Gargantuan Garages

Were is the world’s largest parking garage? I’m not sure why that came to mind, as if I can ever figure out why I fixate on such oddities. It’s a tougher question than I imagined. I wanted to ponder this from the perspective of a single stand-alone structure. Lots of the sources I consulted happened to mix-and-match designs, making it particularly difficult to compare. There are large surface lots without garages, multiple garages strung together, or single facilities with disconnected surface lots and/or garages. Often sources count all of these varied parking space towards a bottom-line total. All I wanted was the largest single garage. I didn’t care about any of the rest.

I kept running across claims that Dubai World Central in the United Arab Emirates will someday have 100,000 parking spaces. Great for them. That would be the total available spaces (not a single garage) and it doesn’t exist yet, so it’s disqualified. I’m not sure if the project got caught-up in the global economic situation or if it’s still a work in progress. I may return to this again someday if or when it’s completed.

Another location was mentioned by almost every source, the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada. It definitely has 20,000 spaces. It’s not all contained within a single building (map) so I eliminated it from further consideration.

The best source I discovered during my investigation was a 2008 article in Forbes. That helped me narrow down the choices. I’ll propose the single largest parking structures with 10,000 or more spaces and of course I’ll invite others to offer alternatives or additions. I’m less certain of my choices than usual. Even so I think they’re all pretty amazing.

Sea-Tac Airport, Washington

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Sea-Tac is a portmanteau of Seattle and Tacoma. Interestingly, Sea-Tac isn’t located in Seattle or Tacoma but in the City of SeaTac (no hyphen). SeaTac must be one of the few English-language towns with a capital letter embedded within the middle of its name (anyone know of others?).

The garage at Sea-Tac has 13,000 parking spaces. It is so large that I can’t even fit its enormity into a single Street View image. It’s equally impressive from above. I’ve flown into Sea-Tac numerous times over the years but I can’t recall noticing the garage. I guess maybe I was too focused on trying to get the rental car to the Interstate so I could get on my way. I’ll have to pay more attention next time.

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Detroit Metro Airport, Michigan

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Detroit Metro Airport — officially the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport — has a big garage befitting it’s big, long name. The McNamara Terminal Parking Structure is the one that makes the list with 11,500 spaces. However, the other one should get a special award for the better name: The Big Blue Deck.

It looks totally utilitarian, a block of concrete on a sea of concrete. It the old Soviet Union had designed a giant parking garage, it would probably have looked like this one. Maybe that’s a bit harsh. It isn’t that ugly.

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Universal Studios, Orlando Florida

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Universal Studios is impressive because its South Facility has two parking garages, each with 10,200 spaces. It’s too bad they couldn’t connect them together into a single structure because they’d take the prize.

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Disneyland, Anaheim, California

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The final standalone garage that offers 10,000 spaces is Disneyland’s Mickey and Friends Parking Structure. It’s utilitarian but go ahead and compare the scenery with Detroit. There seem to be some architectural detailing plus some nice landscaping with palm trees. I know where I’d rather spend the day.

As one might suspect, the list is dominated by airports and theme parks. Large shopping malls also tend to have a lot of parking spaces but they also tend to have a greater preponderance of surface lots than garages. I was a little surprised that none of them made it into the top tier, though. I was also surprised that all of the examples I uncovered were located in the United States. It left me wondering whether this was really true or whether I didn’t dig deep enough.

Caro-what?

Anyone following the Twelve Mile Circle for any length of time knows that I have an unnatural fixation on borders and boundaries. I particularly enjoy those places split by borders or positioned directly alongside borders especially with a purpose in mind. I thought I’d discovered, either on my own or through the generous contributions of readers of this blog just about every large object that could possibly straddle a border. Imagine my delight and surprise when I found a massive entity, an entire theme park that’s split between North and South Carolina just outside of the city of Charlotte. It’s called Carowinds.

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Carowinds is a portmanteau — another one of my favorite topics — albeit a particularly lame example: Carolina and Winds. The Carolina part makes perfect sense. The Winds part seems a little weak, having to do with the breezes that blow across the Carolinas or something like that according to at least one source. I suggest they change their name to Carocue for the friendly barbecue battles that take place between the two states. South Carolina mustard would go up against Eastern NC vinegar or Western NC tomato (Lexington) styles. Everyone wins at a barbecue-focused theme park! Well, maybe not the poor pig, or the misguided person who thinks it’s legitimate to barbecue beef or, God forbid, chicken.

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Optimally named or not, Carowinds deserves a lot of credit for capitalizing on its unusual geographic placement. A long segment of sidewalk even traces a length of the border from the northern entrance, a telltale diagonal line in this satellite image. In typical fashion, and as we’ve observed in other instances, the boundary imagined by Google Maps falls a few feet short of reality.

The proprietors already know something that I’ve tried to portray through my writing: geo-oddities sell. People have an interest in strange geography. Unusual features can attract tourism and elicit economic development to areas that may not have been blessed with vibrant urban amenities or famous natural landmarks. It only takes a little entrepreneurial interest and a modicum of creativity.

Notice how Carowinds marked the border prominently in this licensed Flickr image that I’ve borrowed, with attribution (hover over the photo). This happens in various places throughout the park. Visitors see that they cross the border numerous times during their wanderings, adding a geo-oddity dimension to their day of rides and thrills. Carowinds is proud of their geography and it wants people to enjoy the experience, or at least find some amusement from it.

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The border bisects a remarkable number of Carowinds rides and attractions. From the northern entrance traveling towards the southwest, the boundary slashes through the Vortex and Carolina Goldrusher roller coasters, splits a restaurant, cuts the Sydney Sidewinder water slide and an accompanying bathhouse, then completes its journey through the Crocodile Run float ride and the Thunder Road wooden roller coaster before exiting the park. I’m guessing that most guests probably don’t pay too attention to repeated border crossings as they hurtle down the larger roller coasters, but I would.

I found one potential downside. Apparently North and South Carolina have considerably different laws related to the inspection of amusement park rides. North Carolina applies strict documentation standards while South Carolina is a bit more relaxed. That doesn’t mean it’s unsafe but I imagine it could complicate oversight.

I’m going to have to bring my kids here when they get a little older: "go ride the coasters, kids, I’m looking for border markers."