Improved Parking Arrives at Sky Lakes

A panoramic image of the new parking structure as seen above the entrance from the third floor of the Sky Lakes Medical Center building. (Brian Gailey)

A panoramic image of the new parking structure as seen above the entrance from the third floor of the Sky Lakes Medical Center building. (Brian Gailey)

Klamath Falls, Ore. - Sky Lakes Medical Center announced the first-ever parking garage in Klamath Falls is now ready for public use.

Construction on the $10 million structure began at the medical center about a year ago and will provide 322 parking spaces, including two with charging stations for electric vehicles on the lower level. The two-level structure occupies essentially the same footprint as the previous 162-space parking lot it replaces.

The upper deck of the new building is heated to prevent ice and snow build-up thanks to roughly 8.3 miles of hydronic (snow melt) tubing filled with 2,400 gallons of antifreeze solution.

Over the upper deck are photovoltaic panels that can produce up to 100 kilowatt-hours of electricity, with the capability of carrying up to 288 kilowatt-hours with future expansion.

High-efficiency LED lighting is used on both levels. Those lamps are controlled by a motion sensor that, when there is no movement, dims the lights to half brightness for energy conservation.

During the construction, parking was unavailable on much of the main lot, so Sky Lakes implemented an assortment of measures to lessen the effect of the work to help maintain safe traffic flow at the medical center and Cascades East Family Medicine.

Patient and visitor parking moved to spaces previously designated for Sky Lakes employees. Employee parking moved to temporary lots near the medical center. Those lots will now revert to staff parking.

The parking structure is the first phase of a $50 million project that includes a new four-story 88,000-square-foot collaborative health care building on the northwest corner of the Sky Lakes campus. It will be a clinic setting with educational support space that will facilitate the development of innovative training opportunities for a variety of medical disciplines.

That building, a partnership of Sky Lakes and Oregon Health & Science University, will consolidate several Sky Lakes clinics now in separate locations around Klamath Falls, and will include OHSU education and research offices and the new academic headquarters for the OHSU Campus for Rural Health.

Parking Structure Facts:

  • 58,000 square feet
  • 322 Parking Spaces (162 previously)
  • Pre-cast Concrete Superstructure
    • Weighs 2.5 million tons
    • 1,250 cubic yards of concrete
    • 136 pieces
      • Largest piece is 60 feet long, 12 feet wide
      • Heaviest piece is 68,630 pounds
  • Cast In-place Concrete
    • 2,308 cubic yards (4,616 tons)
    • 249,300 ft of rebar (47.2 miles)
  • Construction required the excavation of 21,279 yards of spoils (dirt). This took 2,128 dump truck loads to haul away. 
  • The site was backfilled with 609 tons of gravel