Why Steel

Parking Garages


Tobin Center for the Performing Arts Garage

Tobin Center for the Performing Arts Garage, San Antonio

Nashville Library Garage

Library Garage, Nashville

Why Steel is the Superior Choice for Building Parking Garages

Unmatched Expansive Interiors

Forget about those cramped, column-filled ramps of yore--imagine stepping into a parking garage with vast, open spaces and minimal columns. This is the reality of steel-framed structures.

Steel’s strength allows for long spans and slender columns, creating expansive, column-free interiors that elevate the entire parking experience. These wide-open spaces not only maximize parking efficiency but also enhance visibility, making the garage feel safer and more navigable. This open design transforms parking garages from mere utility spaces into inviting, user-friendly environments.

Architectural Brilliance

Little Creek Casino Garage

Little Creek Casino Garage, Shelton, Wash.

Steel brings a sleek, modern aesthetic to parking garages. Its flexibility allows for innovative designs that incorporate abundant natural light, transforming typically dreary structures into bright and welcoming spaces. The architectural possibilities are endless, enabling unique, attractive designs that blend seamlessly with any urban landscape.

Future-Proof Adaptability

Steel’s versatility doesn’t end with its structural advantages. The adaptability of steel-framed structures means they can be easily repurposed for different uses over time. Instead of demolishing a decommissioned parking garage, you can transform it into something entirely new. This adaptability extends the structure’s life, offers significant cost savings, and reduces environmental impact by minimizing demolition waste.

WestBend Garage

WestBend Garage, Fort Worth, Texas

Eco-Friendly Choice

Opting for American-made steel is a vote for sustainability. Wide flange structural steel sections produced in the U.S. use electric arc furnaces to recycle scrap metal, such as cars and refrigerators, into new steel without compromising quality. Decommissioned structural steel buildings contribute to a circular economy because the materials go right back into the supply chain after demolition.

Efficient Weight Savings

Steel’s lightness is a game-changer. Compared to concrete, steel structures are about 25% lighter, reducing overall weight and foundation impact. This lightness translates to significant time and cost savings during construction, making steel an economically smart choice.

Rapid Construction

Speed is another hallmark of steel construction. By working closely with fabricators, you can ensure steel’s sequenced, on-time delivery to the jobsite. With this kind of schedule, steel structures can be erected in record time, minimizing disruption and allowing steel parking garages to be operational much faster than those built with other materials.

Built to Last

When designed with care and coated with long-term protective systems, steel-framed parking structures offer exceptional durability. Exposed steel allows for easy inspections, which means owners can count on early detection and quick resolution of any issues. This proactive maintenance can ensure a long lifespan for the structure.

Success Stories

Nashville parking garage

Textbook Example of Vertical Expansion

As Nashville's population shoots skyward, so too has the parking garage for the Metro Nashville Public Library. The light weight of the multistory steel expansion minimized the foundation impact for the existing concrete structure.

Morgantown, W.V. garage

Efficient Campus Parking Solution

A mixed-use steel parking garage in Morgantown, W.V. stacks six levels of West Virginia University parking above street-level retail space. Corrosion protection measures ensure this garage will serve the community for years to come.

Nebraska Medicine parking garage

Winning Template for Parking

What do you do when a decades-old steel parking structure proves the most durable and lowest-maintenance garage on campus? Build a second one! Omaha's Nebraska Medicine now has two neighboring steel garages with more than 1400 spots total.

Resources from AISC

Design Guide 18: Steel-Framed Open-Deck Parking Structures

This text provides designers with a complete introductory reference for the design of steel-framed, open-deck parking structures. The guide focuses on the design of deck and framing systems, fire protection, and corrosion protection for parking structures.

Design Guide 18: Steel-Framed Open-Deck Parking Structures is currently being revised and updated and is expected to be available during the third quarter of 2025. In the meantime, AISC is offering a free download of the existing design guide, which still contains useful information and guidance but also references outdated material, especially as related to codes and specs.

Find out more

Steel Framed Parking Garages: Detailing for Durability (NASCC: The Steel Conference)

This presentation summarizes design considerations for strength, serviceability, fire protection, and durability of steel-framed parking structures. In particular, it focuses on detailing to ensure successful long-term performance.

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Successful Steel-Framed Parking Garages: A Nod to Past Performance (NASCC: The Steel Conference)

The popularity of steel-framed parking structures is growing nationwide. Many owners, developers, and designers realize that steel-framed parking structures have a clear advantage in economy and durability.

In this session, learn why Nebraska Medicine selected a steel superstructure coupled with a post-tensioned parking deck based on the success of a similar adjacent parking garage that was built more than three decades prior.

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Why to Design Steel Parking Structures (NASCC: The Steel Conference)

Over the last decade, the landscape for elevated parking structures has changed. With new code changes requiring sprinklers for all parking structures, plus the growing discussions around adaptive reuse for parking garages in the future, the time is ripe to use structural steel for these structures!

This session provides an overview of structural steel parking structures and discusses design considerations for using steel. The presentation also discusses current resources that aid in designing steel-framed parking structures.

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Steel Solutions Center 

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