“It’s gotten tight on the main campus,” Middleton said. “Everything’s pushing south, parking as well.”  

This main section contains 13 visitor parking garages operated by the medical center – with most built between 1963 and 1991 – in addition to the garages operated by hospitals. In this area, the price tag to build more is especially high, where Middleton estimated it might cost up to $45,000 to build a single parking space above ground and up to $75,000 to build below ground.

Frequent visitors crave solutions. Houston resident Sara Lowman, who regularly parks in the medical center to see her own doctors or drive her family members to their appointments, may drive for up to 30 minutes before she finds parking. 

She especially dreads the medical center’s Parking Garage 2, a massive 2,300-space structure with what she described as confusing traffic patterns. 

“It’s all awful,” she said. “There’s just got to be a better design for how to do all that.” 

Even in such tight quarters, hospitals continue to create more parking demand on the main campus. Houston Methodist is constructing a $1.4 billion, 26-story Centennial Tower that will eventually grow its capacity by 175 inpatient beds.

“We’re working closely with the TMC and agreed that if there are adverse impacts on traffic flow, we will assist in making additional traffic improvements, especially if the problems are caused by our new building,” said Methodist spokesperson Gale Smith.

‘Ideal solutions’ 

Without a clear path to build new parking structures in the main campus, Middleton said the medical center has focused on improving signage and making life safety repairs in the existing garages. It has added security cameras and plans to add electric vehicle chargers where possible.

The medical center also invested “significant capital” in 2018 to upgrade the equipment at entrances and exits in every parking garage “with good results from a user experience perspective,” Middleton said. The new equipment includes more advanced ticket dispensers and kiosks where drivers pay for parking. Middleton declined to specify the amount of funding that went into those changes.

Engineers, however, have recommended more robust upgrades to make the most out of the existing space and ease the burden on drivers. One of the most efficient ways to do that, engineers say, is a parking guidance system, akin to those found in the garages of some HEB locations and George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

“There’s an argument that you can get more parking out of the system you currently have by just investing in the guidance system,” said Gonzalez, the former Walter P Moore engineer. 

There are several versions of guidance systems, but they generally come with a red-and-green lighting system and electronic signs that indicates the number of available spaces.  

Gonzalez said without the system, garages are effectively full when they reach 90% to 95% capacity. Those last few remaining spaces “are just impossible to find in some of these garages because they’re so large,” he said. “That changes when you invest in a parking guidance system that guides someone to those last 5% or 10% of the spaces.”

Those were the benefits that Gonzalez envisioned when he left Walter P Moore in 2016, he said. Before he left the company, his firm had recommended adding the guidance system in a framework for a master plan for the medical center, he said.

In fact, the medical center had expressed interest and funded a pilot study to assess the technology, he said. Gonzalez left before it was completed. “I don’t know what happened,” he said.

Middleton said the study showed only “marginal benefit.” Before LAZ assumed management responsibilities, it conducted its own analysis that came to a similar conclusion, Middleton said. 

The LAZ analysis, which “focused on detailed internal operations and finances,” determined that the medical center would benefit more by upgrading equipment at entrances and exits rather than adding the guidance system, Middleton said. “This would create a faster throughput for entering and exiting the facility and create a better customer experience,” Middleton said.

LAZ did not respond to requests for comment.

A handful of newer public garages in the medical center, primarily those under Texas Children’s Hospital buildings, did implement the guidance systems. But that’s only because the design of those garages was conducive for it, Middleton said.

“Not all parking facilities would benefit from (guidance) systems,” Middleton said in an email. “Many of the parking facilities are constructed such that one must pass every parking space on their way up or down, largely obviating the benefit of a (guidance system).”  

Gonzalez pushed back on that assertion. Drivers are not forced to pass every space in most of the garages. Even with the current layouts, the guidance system could still provide valuable data that would allow drivers to see the number of available spaces from the ground level, he said. It could also feed into a mobile application that gives visitors the information before they leave the house.