University of Iowa, Parking Lot 36

ABES Engineer November 29, 2016

CLIENT: UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

Project Description: Anderson Bogert recently completed a parking lot project, reconfiguring and upgrading Parking Lot 36, for the University of Iowa. The existing pavement was asphalt with severe alligator cracking and was last patched and seal coated in 2012.

The project included the reconstruction of the eastern half of the parking lot with portland concrete pavement. Anderson Bogert’s services included survey, design development, construction document preparation, bidding assistance, and construction phase services. Design elements included:

  • Layout of parking stalls and drives to address snow storage and to maximize parking space efficiency
  • Addition of storm sewer piping, intakes, and storm water quality unit
  • ADA compatible sidewalk replacement
  • Lighting replacements with energy saving LED technology
  • Permanent traffic control signage and pavement markings

An important safety and design aspect was ensuring the new parking lot was laid out to avoid users backing over the public sidewalk along Dubuque Street when exiting their parking space, as occurred with the previous layout. Even with this improvement, we were able to retain fifty-one full size parking stalls. As with most college campuses, parking space is extremely limited and every single parking stall is important to the University of Iowa.

One unique feature of this project was the implementation of a stormwater quality unit that removes pollutants with hydrodynamic separation. This is the first use of this type of unit on the University of Iowa campus and was chosen at this location due to the unit’s small footprint and very limited space at the downstream end of this site.

The project was completed under the allotted budget within a remarkably brief design phase and construction phase timeline. Anderson Bogert started the design in April, the project was bid in June, and construction was substantially completed in August — before fall classes began. This schedule provided minimal disruption to the University of Iowa employees that park in the lot.