Innovative Product Increases Parking Garage Safety & Creates A Safety Zone To Protect Pedestrians

LOS ANGELES - Aug. 12, 2013 - PRLog -- Thanks to some innovative design work and fabrication by Blockaides, patrons at the recently revitalized FIGat7th parking garage in downtown Los Angeles are better protected from wayward vehicles.

“The structure itself is about 16 years old, and was in great need of an update as well as safety improvements,” says Warren Vander Helm, managing partner of the Parking Design Group. “Our client (Brookfield Properties) wanted to make the garage safer for pedestrians while at the same time making it more appealing and the wayfinding clearer.”

Two things that stand out are the use of bollards to provide protected and safe paths of travel for pedestrians traversing the new Level 1 loading area, and a new innovative steel platform, called a BarricAide™, at the Level 8 pay-on-foot machines. There, two pay stations are located against the wall nearest the elevators, which means patrons using the machines have their back to approaching vehicles — leaving them utterly defenseless.

“Brookfield wanted to protect the patrons — not to mention the pay stations — from being run into, but this is on the eighth floor of a post-tension slab parking garage, so core drilling large bollards into the floor was impossible,” explains Tyler Thompson of Blockaides, Inc. “The answer was to build a steel platform that the machines would sit on, with steel bollards built into the platform to provide protection.”

The platform, says Vander Helm, “is just slightly up off the floor so enough structural members can go underneath. Now, instead of simply hoping that no driver would ever have a mishap near the machines, companies like Brookfield Properties can install pay stations virtually anywhere and be confident that safety has not been compromised. It’s a great, affordable solution.”

To learn more about this project and the parking garage safety solutions utilized, visit the Blockaides blog article titled "Parking Garage Safety Increased By New Innovative BarricAide™ Product That Creates A Safety Zone To Protect Pedestrians (http://www.blockaides.com/parking-garage-safety-increased...)"


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ABOUT BLOCKAIDES

Blockaides is a safety company engaged in the sale and distribution of safety products which protect and improve safety through the use of steel bollards, barriers, and other safety solutions. Our products protect people and improve safety wherever they live, work, eat, play and shop. The primary targets for sales efforts are the people who manage, operate or specify best practices for operators of gas and convenience stores, quick service restaurants, insurance underwriters, shopping center and other retail property owners, as well as municipal officials or engineering or architectural specifiers who have a responsibility for safety in public and municipal areas. Blockaides products and services protect people who shop and work in these stores and businesses while also protecting the properties themselves from damage.