What is the Worst Parking Crater in America?

The March Madness bug has bitten the staff of Streetsblog. Based on nominations submitted by readers, the website has organized a Parking Madness tournament to determine the "ugliest parking scar draining the life from [an American] downtown."

1 minute read

March 22, 2013, 11:00 AM PDT

By Jonathan Nettler @nettsj


Downtown St Louis Parking Lot

pasa47 / Flickr

After the success of its “worst intersection in America” photo contest, Streetsblog again asked its readers to help find the most offensive land use blunders from around the country. This time they went in search of the worst sea of downtown surface parking in America. And the results are in:

"In all we received 23 submissions from nearly as many states, from the blazing blacktop of San Bernardino, California, to the asphalt expanses of Philadelphia — and a lot of pockmarked places in between," writes Angie Schmitt. "We received so many, we had to break it down into a March Madness-style tournament, matching up 16 finalists in a single-elimination bracket."

"Who will take home the championship? That’s up to you. Over the next two weeks, we’ll be matching up city versus asphalt-maimed city and asking for your vote to determine who will advance."

The first day of competition featured a matchup between "two proud metros," explains Schmitt. "One gave us the Champagne of Beers, the other gave us Frank Sinatra. It’s Milwaukee versus Jersey City."

Thursday, March 21, 2013 in DC.Streetsblog

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