It took some time, but drivers are using the city’s downtown parking garage in the 900 block of New Hampshire.

“We love it,” said Melodie Christal, co-director of Downtown Lawrence Inc. “We think it has really helped alleviate the perception of parking problems downtown. I think anytime you go into the garage, you’ll see it at least three-quarters full.

“It’s great for employees downtown and for shoppers, too, who can go away without plugging the meter after 90 minutes,” she said.

The $6 million garage opened in December 2001, with 500 spaces to ease the parking crunch in and around Massachusetts Street. The Lawrence Arts Center opened across the street a few months later, adding to the parking demand.

“It’s great. We love it. Our patrons love it, and our staff love it,” said Ann Evans, director of the Arts Center. “There are places to park. During the recent sleet (in March), it was real nice because our cars were covered.”

Assistant City Manager Dave Corliss, who oversees the garage, is glad to hear such praise.

“We think it’s going very well,” he said. “When the garage opened, we knew there was increased parking demand that could be partially met by the parking garage, and we knew that the Arts Center was not too far behind, as far as needing additional parking. So we think it’s going well.”

Although relatively full now, the garage was mostly empty in the early days following its opening. The city sent out flyers and encouraged parkers to purchase long-term passes to use the garage. The efforts worked, and now the garage is in use around the clock.

“It’s important to note we built the parking garage for downtown’s future,” Corliss said. “We didn’t anticipate it would be full the day that it opened.”

Ruth Remmers, Lawrence, parks her car in the parking garage in the 900 block of New Hampshire. The million garage with 500 parking spaces opened in 2001.

“Early on, there were people, such as some ladies after our evening classes, afraid to be in there after dark,” Evans said. “But they realize it’s bright, and there are no problems that I know of.”

Even at full use, however, the garage will always consume more city revenues than it generates.

“The parking garage was never intended to pay for itself,” Corliss said. “None of our downtown parking improvements have paid for the capital costs. The fees, the meter money we plug in, help pay for the operating expense.”

The operating expense, including meter patrols for all of downtown parking, adds up to more than $800,000 a year. Downtown officials, however, can see a time soon when another parking garage will be helpful.

“We hope someday there will be another one at the other end of downtown,” Christal said.

“We don’t have any plans or construction efforts,” Corliss said. “But we would anticipate in the years to come that we would look at additional parking garage opportunities in the downtown area.”

One thing the city won’t do however, is close off Massachusetts Street to traffic and parking to create an “urban mall” like Pearl Street in Boulder, Colo.

That suggestion “usually comes from people who aren’t familiar with their downtown,” Corliss said. “Massachusetts Street serves as kind of a moving parking, and we think it works fairly well. Patrons have an opportunity to park fairly close to the establishments they want to go to.”

But Corliss said the city must keep working to make sure traffic and parking work efficiently.

“I think the point is made that downtown parking is always going to be a challenge and will always need our attention,” Corliss said, “because it’s so vital for our downtown businesses and residents.”