POMONA, CA The southwestern section of Cal Poly Pomona is a larger focal point for parking with the debut of a 1,800-stall parking structure.

The university, located about 25 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, California, opened the three-level garage at the start of the 2016-17 school year. A design-build team directed by International Parking Design and Bomel Construction produced the facility. The university's other garage, on the opposite side of campus, has 2,300 stalls.

Cal Poly Pomona, largely a commuter school with a total enrollment of about 20,000 students, lost approximately 900 parking spots when construction of a 138,000-square-foot student services building adjacent to the main library began last year. The university's ambitious plans to increase enrollment and build residence halls and other academic buildings in the years ahead are driving the need for additional parking.

The new parking structure is positioned close to the intersection of heavily traveled Temple Avenue and University Drive, a hilly thoroughfare exclusively serving the campus. The garage borders I-Poly High School, Cal Poly Pomona tennis courts and soccer fields and the university's latest crown jewel, the 165,000-square-foot Bronco Recreation and Intramural Center, commonly called the BRIC, which opened in 2014.

The main construction challenges for the new garage, which was built on an existing surface lot with 600 stalls, were considerable: Starting construction after the end of the 2014-15 school year and ending it before the start of the fall 2016 quarter; relocating 2,000 feet of storm drains that were below the new garage's footprint; excavating about 120,000 yards of soil to a depth of 11 feet; erecting a poured-in-place parking structure on a naturally sloping site and adding multiple turn lanes on an active Temple Avenue and a narrow University Drive without shoulders.  

One of the many reasons why the IPD-Bomel design-build team won the contract was the ability to rapidly design and build a parking structure that has six gateways: an at-grade entrance from Temple Avenue to the south, one at grade from an existing campus parking lot to the east, one above grade from University Drive to the west and three below grade from Collins Avenue, a narrow university street behind I-Poly and parallel to Temple. The half-dozen entrances and exits are essential due to the structure's proximity to Temple, University, Collins and I-Poly. 

Another important reason is the need for quick entry and exit for thousands of students rushing to and from classes during peak morning and afternoon periods. Thirdly, a large number of visitors will frequent the BRIC and various outdoor sporting and public events, often arriving or departing at the same time.

Some of the tan-colored garage's features include Wi-Fi, two elevator cores, 77 security cameras, 24 electrical vehicle charging station, two rows of EV-only parking stalls nearest to the entrances and exits and solar-energy panels shading dozens of vehicles on the upper level. A pedestrian plaza and bridge landscaped with drought-tolerant vegetation intersects the garage at grade level, between the structure and an expansive surface lot to the east. 

In addition to International Parking Design and Bomel Construction, the design-build team included Steinberg Architects, Air-Tec Mechanical, Apollo Electric, structural engineering firm Culp & Tanner, Civil Works Engineers, Don Brandel Plumbing, Integrity Fire and Lynn Capouya Landscape Architects.