Parking decks are highly visible projects that are built to solve urgent problems, often in support of new downtown developments, hospital expansions, university campus growth, or new multifamily residential or office developments. For project managers, the stakes are high: schedules are tight, budgets are scrutinized, and owners expect a structure that performs for decades. At the same time, the finished product must deliver efficient traffic flow, clear sightlines, and a professional appearance that fits the surrounding environment.
Precast concrete is uniquely suited to meet the requirements of parking deck construction. By moving critical construction tasks into a controlled environment, precast offers predictable schedules, improved safety, and durable performance that other construction methods can’t match.
Parking decks present a unique combination of challenges for project managers. From aesthetics to durability, each pressure point can introduce delays, cost overruns, or long-term maintenance headaches. Precast addresses these issues by providing solutions that simplify planning, accelerate construction, and improve overall reliability.
Parking decks located in the middle of urban or campus settings need to complement the aesthetics of their surroundings. Communities and owners expect more than exposed gray concrete. Precast cladding panels provide architects with a wide range of finish options, from brick and stone veneers to custom textures and colors, ensuring the deck blends with surrounding architecture.
The Jourdan Court Parking Structure in Chicago shows how precast supports design goals in sensitive settings. Surrounded by historic brick buildings, the deck used precast panels with a thin brick formliner to blend seamlessly into the neighborhood without extending the construction schedule.
Parking garage owners want to maximize the number of parking stalls while maintaining clear sightlines and safe circulation patterns. With cast-in-place construction, additional columns can break up stall layouts and create blind spots for drivers. Precast double tees offer more design flexibility because they can be manufactured in longer spans. This creates open bays that simplify striping, improve visibility, and allow for smoother traffic flow, leading to a safer and more user-friendly parking experience.
Parking structures are often built on urgent timelines, responding to rapid growth or redevelopment projects. Cast-in-place methods require extensive sequencing for formwork, rebar placement, and curing, which adds weeks to the schedule. Precast components arrive at the job site ready for installation. Erection follows a repetitive pattern of setting columns, beams, and double tees, which allows crews to move quickly from one bay to the next.
The City of Kenosha, Wisconsin, used precast to deliver a five-story parking structure on a compressed timeline, providing much-needed capacity to support downtown redevelopment. To seamlessly integrate the parking structure into its historic downtown surroundings, County Prestress & Precast manufactured beige spandrels, wall panels, and exterior columns and concrete brick infills.
Parking structures are exposed to some of the harshest service conditions in construction, including freeze-thaw cycles, de-icing salts, and constant vehicle traffic. Owners expect a structure that lasts for decades with only routine maintenance and no major repairs. Precast concrete is designed and manufactured to meet these challenges. High-strength concrete mixes, strict quality controls, and integrated reinforcement systems create components that resist chloride penetration and cracking, ensuring long-term structural integrity. The result is a lower lifecycle cost for owners and fewer maintenance issues for facility managers.
All parking decks require routine maintenance to extend their service life, so the design of the garage must facilitate easy maintenance. Snow removal, drainage, and washdowns should not interfere with daily use. Precast parking garages can be designed with floor systems that promote drainage, simplifying maintenance tasks and extending service life. These design features reduce disruptions and ensure the garage structure remains functional year-round.
Safety on the job site is a major concern for project managers. Cast-in-place parking garage construction involves scaffolding, shoring, formwork, and extensive rebar tying, all of which introduce hazards. With precast construction, the dangerous and complex task of pouring high-quality concrete is performed in a production facility with controlled processes and specialized equipment that minimize risks. On the job site, crews assemble precast concrete components using cranes and lifts, significantly reducing the need for scaffolding. This shift in construction activity not only improves safety but also reduces the number of trades that need to be coordinated in tight site conditions.
Precast provides strong advantages for any parking structure, but the right partner makes a critical difference. County Prestress & Precast brings unmatched manufacturing capacity, technical expertise, and innovative solutions that set parking deck projects up for success.
County Prestress & Precast manufactures precast and prestressed structural components for parking decks, including foundations, columns, beams, shear walls, spandrel panels, and stair and elevator shafts. All components are produced in PCI-certified facilities under rigorous quality controls, ensuring consistency from the first piece to the last.
County Prestress & Precast manufactures 15-foot-wide double tees, exceeding the 12-foot standard available from many producers. This added width reduces the number of columns required, creating more open bays and improving traffic flow.
In addition to wider spans, County Prestress & Precast offers pre-topped double tees with 4-inch flanges that act as structural diaphragms. This eliminates the need for a separate field-topping operation, reducing trades to coordinate and accelerating schedules.
At Hollywood Casino in Joliet, Illinois, County Prestress & Precast’s pre-topped double tees helped streamline construction by removing a major sequencing step from the job site.
County Prestress & Precast has delivered parking deck solutions for a wide range of applications, including airports, healthcare facilities, and universities.
Notable projects include Preflight Airport Parking at O’Hare International Airport, Midwestern University in Downers Grove, Illinois, and Methodist Hospital in Peoria, Illinois. These projects demonstrate the versatility and reliability of County’s precast systems in high-demand environments where schedule certainty and durability are essential.
Precast concrete provides proven solutions for parking garage projects that reduce risk, improve efficiency, and ensure lasting performance. When you choose County Prestress & Precast, you gain a partner focused on delivering safe, efficient, and reliable parking structures.
Contact our team today to discuss your next parking deck project.