Parking Lot Design Expert Witness services for parking injuries

Parking Structure Design Engineer and Services — **Don Monahan**

Don Monahan is a registered professional engineer and nationally-recognized expert in the design of multi-level parking facilities. He has specialized expertise in lighting design, parking facility safety, and automated vehicle storage/retrieval systems (robotic parking). Don also provides expert testimony related to personal injury lawsuits in parking facilities, particularly where poor lighting is a contributing factor. Don has 45 years of parking consulting experience on over 600 multi-level parking structures, 100 parking studies, and 40 parking structure restoration projects. He has specialized expertise with regard to parking needs assessment, financial feasibility studies, traffic access and circulation, parking configuration, signage, lighting, safety, security, waterproofing, parking equipment, fire protection, parking management/operations, building code issues, and automated vehicle storage systems. Don has performed energy-efficient lighting assessments on 66 parking facilities. He has managed many parking structures as the prime consultant from conception to completion with construction cost budgets of up to $100 million. Don also provides expert witness testimony with regard to personal injury claims in parking facilities.

As co-author of Parking Structures: Planning, Design, Construction, Maintenance, and Repair – Third Edition, Don played an instrumental role in the evolution of modern parking design. The book is widely considered the authoritative text for a generation of engineers and architects who have relied on it as both an essential educational volume and reference guide. A prolific author, Don has also written over 35 articles in trade journals and magazines, and has presented at over 65 seminars and conferences. Don’s parking career began when he joined Walker Parking Consultants in 1977 as a project manager in the firm’s Minneapolis office. He became well-known throughout the parking industry in the late seventies and was chosen by Walker to open a new Denver office in 1980. Don left Walker in 1986 but returned in 1990.

Don has received the Bernard Dutch Memorial Award for Outstanding and Dedicated Service from the National Parking Association and is one of only three members to obtain Fellow honors on the Parking Consultants Council of the National Parking Association. Don also received the Lifetime Achievement Award on May 23, 2017 from the International Parking Institute.

Why Parking-Xpert.com?

Adequate parking is a necessary component contributing to the success of any building project.
Parking structures are expensive, Above ground structures can cost $20,000 to $30,000 per parking space (not
including land and soft costs). Underground parking can be double that cost. The square feet of parking floor area
often is as much as the amount of floor area for an office building. Right-sizing parking is important for the financial
viability of a new construction project. There is recent speculation in the parking industry that parking requirements
will reduce in the future due to ride sharing, automated vehicles, transit-oriented developments that increase public
transit use, and micro-mobility services (scooters, short-distance bike rentals, etc.) A parking professional is on top of
those issues.

Parking facility costs can be minimized with more efficient parking layouts (i.e. less square feet per stall) that are
tailored to the current size of the automobile population. An experienced parking professional can provide that
expertise. In addition, the parking structure must have easy access and the internal traffic flow must be easily
understood and have sufficient access design and internal flow capacity to serve the peak arrival/departure traffic
flow for the users of the facility. Sporting event peak traffic as well as cinema, theater, and concert events can also
have challenging peak traffic flows. The facility should be user friendly with high ceilings, bright lighting, open
interiors, and easily understood signage. Parking-Xpert.com has designed and managed over 600 parking projects of
up to 10,000-car capacity that will optimize the design of your facility.

parking structure design service and consulting

West Hollywood Automated Parking, West Hollywood, CA

As one of the most progressive cities in the nation, the City of West Hollywood was excited to embrace automated parking as an innovative solution to the challenge of creating sufficient parking to meet their needs. The 200-space automated storage/retrieval system (commercial robotic parking design projects) is located on a surface lot adjacent to the City Hall with a 27-foot wide community plaza between the two buildings. This represents a net increase of 132 spaces. The project received an award for The Best Design of a Parking Facility under 800 spaces from the International Parking Institute,

North Colorado Medical Center, Greeley, CO

This project consisted of a 723 space parking structure on four-levels. Services provided for this design/build project included functional design/parking consulting and structural engineering. The garage has a hybrid structural system with steel frame, cast-in-place post-tensioned concrete floor slabs.

Robotic Parking Injury Expert witness testimony consulting

Pima County Court Complex Tucson, Az

Don Monahan was the project manager for a mixed-use parking structure for Pima County Courthouse complex. Design services included functional design, parking consulting, and structural engineering for 700 parking spaces on seven-levels. Walker proposed a spread footing system on modified soil to avoid the existing contaminated soils which saved the Owner nearly $1,000,000.

Parking Facility Personal Injury Claims

Don Monahan of Parking-Xpert.com has provided expert witness services for personal injury claims in parking
structures since the mid 80’s. He researched the liability claims of a nationwide, commercial parking operator in the
early 90’s that indicated trip and fall and slip and fall injuries in parking facilities represented about 75% of the
personal injury claims. The results of that study were published in the Parking Professional Magazine, September
1995 by the Institutional and Municipal Parking Congress, Washington, DC. Mr. Monahan has provided expert witness
testimony on over 43 personal injury claims, mostly related to trip and fall injuries due to curbs and wheel stops.
Many of those claims alleged poor lighting was a contributing factor. Mr. Monahan is also a parking facility lighting
design expert and serves on the parking facility lighting design task force of the Illuminating Engineering Society
of North America. Measurements of light levels in the area of the incident by Mr. Monahan can confirm or deny those
allegations. Mr. Monahan can also attest as to parking industry standards relative to potential hazards in the design
of the parking facility.

I am a trial lawyer in New Mexico. I retained Mr. Monahan in an enormously complicated personal injury case where my client suffered a traumatic brain injury (“TBI”) because neither the parking lot itself, nor the lighting in the parking lot had been safely designed. Mr. Monahan’s work in my TBI case was ENORMOUSLY valuable to the success of the case. Having spent four decades doing nothing but designing parking lots, he knows everything there is to know about parking lot design. He is an outstanding expert witness. In short, if you need an incredibly adept parking lot expert, then Don Monahan is the absolute BEST.

Slate Stern

Trial lawyer in New Mexico

In a world when you get a lot of opinions with no back up, Don gives you the truth. Unadulterated truth based on years of experience, and an insatiable desire to learn more today. He wrote the book on parking structures and updates it after every project. THAT’S experience.

Jim Wirick, AIA

LPA Design Studios

I have worked with Don for many years. He has assisted me in master planning, parking lot, and parking structure design. He has helped me evaluate alternative methods of construction. He has provided advice that has helped me make best cost and fastest to market decisions. When I need expert help with my parking issues, he is my only call. When it comes to parking, he is the smartest guy in the room.

Michael Fontana, Principal

Michael Fontana and Associates.

Don Monahan literally taught me the automated parking business. As the subject matter expert, Don traveled the world to learn about automated parking and co-authored a book sharing what he had learned. Don also lead a one-man crusade to include provisions for automated parking in building codes making it easier to get automated projects approved. We all owe Don a debt of gratitude for pioneering the safe adoption of our technology from the consultant's side of the table.

Woody Nash

President Gotham Parking Systems LLC

Parking Lot Design Expert Witness Don Monahan