Parking Lots

Strong, attractive, cost effective, and virtually maintenance free - concrete parking lots are a wise business decision! Owners and developers are making the decision to use concrete parking areas in residential, commercial, and industrial projects more and more every day. These individuals not only want, but demand added value to their investments.

Parking areas, in any type of project, are more than driving surfaces for cars. They are welcome mats for your building and as such, they should make a positive contribution to it. Concrete parking lots shout quality to customers, tenants, and employees, before they even walk through the door.

Whether plain concrete, or colored and stamped, concrete paving technolgy can achieve the look to suit any project. Concrete surfaces can range from a broom finish to a stamped surface, where the strength and durability of a concrete slab can show the aesthetic appeal of brick or stone pavers. Permanent colors from light gray to a rainbow of decorative options can be achieved with a concrete parking lot.

Reflects three times better than darker alternatives, calling for less lighting

Array of textures,shapes, patterns, and colors

Not affected by petroleum products

Competitive intial costs and virtually maintenance free

Resists deformation of ruts and deep depressions

Need to get the project done quickly? Concrete's single layer system allows for faster construction. The flexibility in concrete pavement design makes it unnecessary to haul special subbase materials to the site. Fast-track paving techniques even allow the pavement to open to traffic within 24 hours.

"As an owner/builder of office and industrial building, our company has started thinking beyond the initial costs of materials and started thinking long-term. When comparing asphalt to concrete paving on our current industrial park, we chose concrete. We found it superior to asphalt in almost all categories including quality, durability, maintenance, and job scheduling. Although it has a higher initial cost, ancillary benefits such as better reflective lighting happen immediately, while the monetary benefits increase the longer you own your building."
--Bill Spinner, President Group IV Developers

There are many things that can be done to keep the cost of concrete pavements under control. Each of these tips can also improve the life, appearance, and durability of the concrete pavement.

• Do not stabilize the subbase
• Use integral curb
• Specify 4000 psi concrete
• Do not use reinforcement
• Do not seal joints

Simple maintanence costs of other pavement systems (asphalt, gravel, pavers) made over 20-year span often equal or exceed the initial construction costs. Concrete parking lots, on the other hand, require little upkeep over their 20-year design life - keeping maintenance costs to a minimum.

*See ACI 330R-01 for more information

Green Concrete

Concrete parking lots are environmentally friendly too! Due to its light color, concrete stays cooler than other paving materials. This means lower ambient air temperatures, less air pollution, and cooler, cleaner stormwater runoff. Concrete pavements are also a key element of the Cool Communities movement.