Ballpark parking not expected to be a big problem

No Parking!

That’s always been the chief complaint in Downtown El Paso. However, with a new Triple-A ballpark on the way, city officials say there is plenty of parking within walking distance.

“We can, with garages within two or three minutes of here, rattle off 2,500 to 3,000 parking spaces,” said Deputy City Manager Bill Studer.

So ABC-7 decided to put that to the test, pounding the pavement from the three closest parking structures to the ballpark location.

ABC-7’s Darren Hunt walked from the Convention Center underground parking lot, which has nearly 1,000 spaces, to the ballpark site. The time? Just over two minutes.

A walk from the Mills Plaza Parking Garage, which has nearly 900 spaces and is located off of El Paso Street took less than two minutes.

And the walk from Union Pacific Transit terminal, where there are nearly 500 parking spaces, took about three and a half minutes.

“There’s quite a bit of parking in the area,” Studer said.

He agreed that with those three garages alone, coupled with 1,500 metered parking spaces that will be free after 6 p.m. on game nights, there will be plenty of parking for the average crowd at the 7,800 seat stadium.

“When you compare this part of Downtown to other parts, this probably has more parking than anywhere else,” said Studer, who said the well-dispersed parking should help with traffic in the area. “You want people both coming into the game from different directions around the ballpark and be leaving going in different directions around the ballpark.”