Four new parking lots in Shimla to be ready by December

Parking woes in the town will be eased as four new multi-storey parking lots having a capacity to park around 2,000 vehicles are set to be ready by December, thus enhancing the parking capacity in the town. These lots are...

Tribune News Service

Shimla, Updated At : 07:26 AM Oct 15, 2024 IST

An under-construction parking lot at Auckland Tunnel in Shimla. TRIBUNE PHOTO

These lots are coming up across the town, near Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Chhota Shimla, Vikasnagar and near the Auckland tunnel. Earlier, the lots were set to be completed in September. However, the construction work was halted for a month during the monsoon season.

**A parking lot being built at Vikasnager in Shimla. TRIBUNE PHOTO**

Shimla Mayor Surender Chauhan said around 70 per cent of the construction work of these four parking lots had been completed and the rest of the work was going on in full swing. “The contractors who are constructing these parking lots have been directed to expedite the work so that more parking spaces could be made available to tourists as well as the locals from December,” he said.

The Municipal Corporation is also set to identify places for marking yellow line parkings across the town. With this, the corporation aims to provide additional parking space for locals and to generate revenue. The civic body will soon start a survey to identify yellow line parkings across the town.

The Municipal Corporation is also set to provide online parking lot booking facilities to tourists. This service will initially be available in two parking lots in the town, which are near the lift and in Dhalli. For this, the corporation has also prepared a mobile app, through which people will be able to get information about the vacant parking spaces in the parking lots. People will also be able to book a parking slot for their vehicles in advance via the mobile application before reaching the town.

Tourists as well as locals have to face huge inconvenience in finding a parking space for their vehicles, especially during the peak tourist season in summer and winter. Due to inadequate parking spaces, people often tend to park their vehicles on the roadside, which makes the roads congested, thus leading to frequent traffic jams.