Arco City Approves Automated Underground Parking on Viale delle Palme
To address the increasingly urgent parking emergency, the local government has decided to accelerate the process leading to the construction of the futuristic underground parking lot on Viale delle Palme, where there used to be tennis courts. The other day, the Arco City Council, gathered in its usual weekly session, discussed, among other matters, the issue concerning the new parking facility.
The executive has authorized Sergio Dellanna to move forward along the path outlined some months ago by the same urban planning assessor, which involves building an innovative, fully automated structure. In practice, drivers will simply have to park on a designated pad, press a button, and pick up a receipt which will be used to retrieve their vehicle.
The car will disappear underground, swallowed by a large silo (there will be four silos, each with one hundred parking spaces). “I’ve never seen anything like this before,” comments Stefano Bresciani, the assessor for public works. “It’s almost impressive to see the car ‘sink’ into the ground. Anyway, this aspect will also need to be managed: we have to prepare people culturally so that this modernity is accepted by all.”
Project and management of the new parking lot
To build this remarkable parking structure, private entities will be involved, with the establishment of specific companies, in partnership with the municipality, to manage the facility. “There are already several companies that have inquired and are willing to participate,” explains Dellanna. “I believe that within a few weeks we will have everything finalized, also because we need and want to conclude it by next October.”
The advantages of a fully automated parking system are numerous. Firstly, it takes up little space and is safer, since there’s no need for personnel to escort the car into the silo. Moreover, over what is above (i.e., Viale delle Palme), no additional structures will be required, such as bulky access lanes or unsightly, enormous ventilation grilles.
Finally, there will be no need to cut down trees or make modifications to the existing environment. Similar structures are common throughout Germany, even within hotel complexes. For this project, the municipality of Arco has obtained a provincial contribution of nearly 5 billion lire. Originally, the work was planned to be carried out at the Foro Boario several years ago. The decision to move the project to Viale delle Palme was made also to avoid losing the substantial funding.
