After the parkade on Slater Street partially collapsed, engineers are working to make a temporary ramp to free the dozens of vehicles still trapped.
Nearly a week after the partial collapse of a downtown Ottawa parking garage, engineers and the building’s owners are looking to construct a temporary ramp to remove the approximately 50 vehicles trapped inside.
Capacity Engineering Limited structural engineer Adam Hosny, who responded to the first call before the garage partially collapsed, said the process of designing a temporary ramp to allow vehicles to be removed from the garage has begun. Hosny said engineering consulting firm Adjeleian Allen Rubeli Limited (AAR) is working with the building’s owners, GWL Realty Advisors, on the remediation and temporary repair of the structure.
“AAR will be designing temporary shoring and supports to make the structure safe and allow cars to get out of there,” Hosny said. He said the city has ordered AAR to have the garage shored by March 7, at which point the process of retrieving vehicles can begin. Constructing a ramp using shipping containers was one idea floated by engineers on site.
Parking management company Indigo Park Canada provided a statement on behalf of GWL Realty last week that “GWLRA is working closely with the city, emergency crews and a local team of experts to address the situation, render the site safe, and allow for the removal of vehicles.” It also said vehicles aren’t expected to be accessible “for at least one to two weeks.”
Line De Matteis, a public servant working downtown three days per week, was the first to report the cracks in the parking garage’s ceiling before its collapse. She was able to drive her Mazda 3 out of the parkade just before the structure was closed by emergency services.
“I’m truly grateful that I managed to get out when I did, but I sympathize with those whose vehicles are still parked on-site and remain inaccessible,” De Matteis wrote in an email.
Evening Update
Tim Sheffield’s Chevrolet Volt is trapped in the first level of the garage. From Kingston, he and his wife had to get a rental car without any coverage from their insurer because there was no claim on their vehicle.
“We were in shock, just trying to figure out what we were gonna do and no help from any of the parties involved,” Sheffield said.
“The lack of communication from GWL or Indigo has been pretty frustrating.”
Sheffield said Indigo previously told him to “save all your receipts and we’ll look at it in the future.”
“That’s a pretty sad response,” he said. “There has to be a settlement for all of our expenses and probably more because it’s an ongoing expense.”
Hosny said another firm, Capacity Engineering, is working with the city to pursue a forensic investigation into the cause of the collapse.
“We want to be able to get this to a full forensic report and a case study so we could get our lessons learned and figure out the best way for parking garages to be maintained and potentially an adequate snow removal plan in the future,” Hosny said.
“The rule of thumb in engineering is it always takes more than one reason for a collapse,” the engineer said. All factors would be looked into, but the snow load seen on the garage’s roof prior to the failure “definitely appeared to be more than the designed snow load and the intent of the building code.”
“It will definitely be a discussion with the city to see if we could get more stringent reviews out and snow removal plans seem to be an important one,” Hosny said. “One of my colleagues was driving around the city and he said he saw other parking garages have some snow up on their roof. He’s not sure if it was piled or not, but it’s definitely something that should start being considered more.”
Carole Whitehorne, the executive director of the Canadian Parking Association, which represents the public parking industry, said in a statement that “standards for regular maintenance and inspection of parking structures are an important component of the education provided to members of the Canadian Parking Association.”
Whitehorne confirmed Indigo Park Canada, which operated the parking structure, is a member of the Canadian Parking Association.
De Matteis first started parking in the now-collapsed garage in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. She resumed parking in the garage, which is located directly beside her office building, after it was made mandatory for all government employees to return to work three days a week last year.
She wrote that the garage’s parking “always seemed poorly maintained to me.” She noted that “during heavy rains, the lot would often be closed due to its condition.”
“That being said, parking spaces are very limited in the area, so it was my best option,” De Matteis wrote.
After the collapse, Ottawa’s downtown parking capacity has shrunk by nearly 400 spots, leaving workers like De Matteis with fewer parking options. Whitehorne’s statement said the garage collapse “is bound to cause disruption for customers of other parking garages in the area.”
This is the case for De Metteis, who said she had to wake up early to leave her home in Stittsville and secure a parking spot at 328 Laurier Ave., a garage operated by JPark Management Inc. She said the rate was $1 cheaper than her old garage.
However, a federally owned parking garage at 300 Laurier, located across the street from the partially collapsed garage, issued a nearly 16 per cent increase to its monthly parking rate the day following the collapse. The facility’s management, SP Plus Corporation, said it “doesn’t set the rate” but “the rate increase has been discussed for months.” The last increase was in 2018.
SP Plus operates 16 parking facilities across Ottawa.
Whitehorne recommended alternatives to parking including car-pooling, rideshare, park-and-ride lots and public transit.
“If commuters haven’t yet experienced the LRT in Ottawa, now would be a great time to give it a try,” Whitehorne wrote. “It might be more convenient than searching for downtown parking spots during this disruption and become a new alternative to the Ottawa commute.”
