More parking coming to downtown Austin with extended convention center garage hours pilot
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Starting Feb. 21, the convention center parking garage will extend its parking hours until 1 a.m.
During the pandemic, those hours were scaled back. Currently, you can only come in and out of the lot until 10 p.m., according to the convention center’s website.
The parking garage is just west of the convention center.
“Providing consolidated safe well-lit parking that’s available late into the evening,” said Downtown Austin Alliance (DAA) VP Hannah Rangel.
DAA, Red River Cultural District and the East Sixth Street Public Improvement District are spearheading a pilot program that includes the extended parking hours.
This pilot is part of a DAA goal to diversity sixth street into what it calls an “18-hour entertainment district.” Its goal is to encourage more people to come to Sixth Street and the surrounding areas.
“More comedy clubs, sit down restaurants, i think it’s really important to highlight the need for daytime activity, the ability for cafes and retail to thrive during the day is also something that’s critical for the district,” Rangel said.
The parking pilot will run through April 12, and the groups will review data from the pilot to see if it makes sense to extend the initiative.
Sixth Street now open to car traffic
The City of Austin opened Sixth Street up to vehicular traffic last month as part of a pilot program. In December, the City soft launched the pilot, opening the street up to cars on Thursdays and Sundays.
The Austin Police Department said it will continue to monitor the situation closely, highlight any issues and assess how to proceed with the pilot from there. Chief Lisa Davis has personally been out on Sixth Street at night to assess the changes.
