Ohio State shut down the Ninth Avenue West Parking Garage Monday after complaints of unsafe floor conditions.
The garage will be closed for the next four weeks as the floor is re-coated. Officials hope to have it reopened by the end of October.
The bottom two levels will remain open for parking at the beginning of construction, but will close near the end of the project.
In a press release, Ohio State officials said the sudden closure was “in response to customer feedback.”
“We are getting ready to re-coat the garage and stairway floors so they won’t be as slippery,” said Eric Alexander, an employee of Lithko Construction, which will handle the project. Alexander spent most of Monday power-washing the garage to prepare for the re-coating.
The inclines on the ramps, when wet, have been causing the most problems, said worker John Hall.
The end result is expected to be the same as the neighboring East Garage, which was renovated recently. Officials hope the East Garage will be able to sustain the overload of parking that will spill over due to the closing.
“I don’t think this will really affect my routine at all,” said Dr. Jean Brown, who is a pediatric resident at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. Brown arrives to work early enough that there are usually plenty of parking spaces in the garage, but she estimates that nearly 150 people will have to change their schedules to incorporate the construction.
No one from the transportation and parking offices could be reached for comment.
