Joe's hot tips Instead of hunting in the Golden Triangle for spaces in small lots and garages, cummuters may find some relief in fringe lots. In the Strip District, there are 3,000 spaces between 11th Street and the 16th Street Bridge and more on the other side of the bridge. A lot at 15th and Smallman streets costs $4.50 all day, while a lot at 11th and Etna streets is $5 per day. A third lot at 11th and Smallman, just across from the Senator John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center, offers hourly parking with a maximum rate of $7.

Merrill Stabile is president of ALCO Parking Corp., which operates the 4,400 parking spaces at Three Rivers Stadium and also manages Downtown and Strip District lots.

According to Stabile, spaces will begin to disappear in June as the Steelers prepare the site on which they will break ground for a new stadium. The spaces are in Lots 2, 3 and 6, which are between the Carnegie Science Center and Three Rivers Stadium.

Commuters have never filled up those lots because they are on the west side of the stadium, quite a hike from Downtown. Instead, they prefer to park in lots 4 and 5 on the east side of the stadium, because that puts them closer to town and allows them to walk or take a free shuttle, Stabile said.

Motorists who lose their spots and those who might have parked on the North Side to avoid Fort Pitt Bridge work will be dumped back into the Downtown traffic and parking mix, or will have to seek parking on the fringes.

"We expect people will be ready for a slowdown, but they will go to work,’’ said Ralph Horgan, executive director of the Public Parking Authority of Pittsburgh, which controls 7,200 of the 20,000 spaces in the Golden Triangle.

"The first couple of days will be hectic, but people will settle into a pattern and make adjustments. If you gotta get to work, you gotta get to work.’’

Construction will affect his business, Stabile said.

"I don’t think competition will be as fierce as everyone thinks," he said. "Perception is that it will be horrendous, but that’s not the case. It’s just a matter of people knowing where they must go.’’

The loss of the North Side spaces will put on more pressure, acknowledged Stabile, but he downplayed the impact.

"A number of spaces will be lost, but they were mostly game-day spaces anyway.’’

Still, those drivers who enjoyed lower rates away from the core of Downtown will now be forced to go elsewhere. If they look Downtown, it will further clog traffic there. There’s also Station Square, which offers 3,500 spaces. Parkers at the South Side shopping complex will be able to use light rail to get into Downtown or walk across the Smithfield Street Bridge.

Even without any construction, parking Downtown is tight, as commuters know.

In recent months, the Golden Triangle lost between 400 and 600 spaces when a lot outside the old B&O Railroad station terminal closed at Grant Street and First Avenue. The land is the site of a new PNC Bank building.

A 1994 city Planning Department report estimated that Downtown Pittsburgh would fall 6,000 spaces short of what was needed by 1999, unless something were done.

The report included a look at the central business district lots and garages and those in the fringe areas, such as the Civic Arena, North Shore and Strip District. Workers in Downtown may not like it, but they are used to the cram, said parking authority officials.

There are alternatives.

The Pittsburgh Technology Center, at Second Avenue and Bates Street in South Oakland, has 300 spaces available, according to Robert Rubinstein, development manager at the Urban Redevelopment Authority. The lot costs $3 per day and offers a free shuttle Downtown for commuters. The lot is managed by Civic Arena Parking Corp., which offers a discount for monthly leases, Rubinstein said.

Stabile also runs a Second Avenue parking lot with 800 spaces that is just east of the county jail.

Civic Arena Parking Corp. operates five different lots with a total of 2,500 spaces outside the arena. The west lot is $6 per day; the north and south lots are $5.25 per day; and the east and Melody Tent lots are $4.50 per day. The lots are accessible by Centre or Bedford Avenues. As long as you leave those lots by 6:30 p.m., you are not charged an additional $8 if there is an event at the arena.