Today we're kicking off the action the round of eight in Parking Madness, Streetsblog's annual tournament seeking out the worst excesses of America's urban parking fixation.
The parking craters that have secured spots in the Elite Eight hail from Houston, Lansing, Providence, Greenville, Fremont, Philadelphia, and Hicksville, with voting still open in the San Diego vs. Nashville contest.
Two impressive downtown craters face off below for a spot in the Final Four, as Lansing, Michigan, takes on Greenville, North Carolina.
Lansing
Seats of government are an interesting parking crater genre. Something about the government's ability to hand out free car storage perks seems to generate an abnormal volume of surface parking. Two parking near the U.S. Capitol have competed in Parking Madness, and so has Hartford, Connecticut.
The parking crater in downtown Lansing might top them all. Here is reader Rick Brown's guide to the area around the Michigan Statehouse:
Yes. Most of these lots are for State of Michigan employees or visitors, particularly those between Kalamazoo and Ottawa Streets, west of Pine Street. The series of buildings between Allegan and Ottawa west of the capitol itself are all state offices and the one north of the circle on Washtenaw is the State Historical Museum and Archives.
Greenville
Downtown Greenville, North Carolina, is a restaurant and entertainment destination. But as you can see, except for a few blocks, it's mostly set up for people to drive everywhere instead of walking. East Carolina University, with 29,000 students, is just out of frame to the southeast.
Our anonymous submitter writes:
Look carefully and you'll notice that half of Greenville, NC's downtown is parking and/or vehicular right-of-way. With a campus of 30,000 immediately adjacent (you can see buildings in the lower right portion of the picture), there's almost a complete lack of bike racks. Amazing, the four city-block surface parking lot is reserved for university students, while the garage and two city-block surface lot immediately across the street is for city government staff. Eight city blocks, six parking lots and a parking garage. Crater status confirmed.
Which belongs in the Final Four?
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