ROCKVILLE, Md., April 17, 2007—More parking spaces are becoming available in the Rockville Town Square area of Town Center, and more will be added soon with the opening of the third garage. With no charge for parking in the garages until after Memorial Day, now is an especially good time to explore the area and the new businesses, as well as the Rockville Library and the outdoor plaza.
The parking garage on North Washington Street now has 165 public spaces available, and 20 more are expected to be available within a week or so. The Maryland Avenue garage has about 110 spaces available. Access to both garages has been modified while work continues to repair pavers on Maryland Avenue and Gibbs Street. In addition to the signs directing traffic to the garage entrances, the City has put an updated map showing access on its Web site at http://www.rockvillemd.gov/towncenter/images/towncenter-parking-map-41607.jpg.
The third and largest garage, with an entrance on MD Rte. 355, is in the final phases of construction. Final inspections are expected soon, and the opening of the garage is anticipated in the next few weeks.
Also, the City’s contractor has begun installing a parking guidance system in the garages that is one of the most technologically advanced systems for municipal downtown parking. The new system, which will encompass a total of 973 public spaces in the three garages, will include signs placed at remote gateways to Rockville Town Center that inform drivers which garages have space available. Electronic signs also will be placed at the entrances of each garage to let drivers know which floors have open spaces. The most advanced feature of Rockville’s garages will be the single-spaced monitoring system. There will be an indicator above each space that signals whether that space is available, helping drivers find open spaces quickly.
Pedestrian access to Town Square remains available. In the Maryland Avenue garage, there are signs directing people to use the South elevator or stairs to get to the library, retailers and the plaza.
Rockville Town Square is the 15-acre first phase of the revitalized Rockville Town Center. For more information about the project, visit the City of Rockville Web site at www.rockvillemd.gov/towncenter.
