The Smith County parking garage was made possible thanks to a voter-approved bond in 2022. (Santana Wood/Tyler Morning Telegraph)

Hundreds of extra parking spaces will be available in downtown Tyler tis week.

Smith County officials and project managers invite the community to a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new county parking garage at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. The garage is located at 210 E. Ferguson St. right next to the Smith County Annex Building and across the street from the future site of the new courthouse where construction remains underway.

Originally slated to open in October, the project’s completion date was pushed back to November due to unforeseen weather, utility line delays and other unspecified issues, the county learned during a commissioners court meeting earlier this fall.

On Friday, the county passed its final inspection on the garage, meaning it’s time for the garage to open to the public. The garage will open for parking immediately following Tuesday afternoon’s ribbon cutting ceremony.

Parking in the garage will be free.

The public is invited to attend the brief ceremony.

The new parking garage has more than 540 spaces, two elevators, utility rooms, storage, and IT closets. The parking spaces will serve Smith County employees, jurors and members of the public visiting downtown.

The $19 million garage, part of a voter-approved bond project associated with the new county courthouse, broke ground in October 2023.

During construction, meters around the annex, along Ferguson and Spring, have been bagged for free visitor parking. Jurors have been asked to park at the Fair Plaza Parking Garage, at 208 S. College Ave., which is free.

For more than two decades, numerous studies have been conducted to assess the needs of the courthouse and the judiciary, and offer suggestions on possible solutions. Each study showed a new courthouse and associated parking structure were needed to accommodate the county’s growth along with logistic and security needs of the county’s judicial system.

Planning workshops, presentations, community meetings, and a citizen input survey preceded the bond, which was called in August 2022 and approved Nov. 8, 2022 with 53.73% of the vote. Ballots showed 40,120 people voted for the issuance of $160 million in bonds for the new courthouse and $19 million for the associated parking structure. There were 34,552 people who voted against the bond.

Smith County Judge Neal Franklin said in previous interviews with the Tyler Morning Telegraph that this expansion and growth has been a longtime “downtown dream” of business owners and developers.

The project has been more than 25 years in the making.

On Spring Avenue behind the current courthouse, several buildings were demolished to usher in the new courthouse, which will stand seven stories high with approximately 270,000 square feet; it will be “breathtaking,” Franklin previously said. It will feature eight courtrooms, with additional space for four more courtrooms to be added when needed.

This facility will also relocate the 12th Court of Appeals courtroom from the basement of the Cotton Belt building to the top floor of the new courthouse.

The courthouse project is expected to be completed in the fall of 2026.

If You Go

WHAT: Smith County Parking Garage ribbon cutting

WHEN: 2:30 p.m. Tuesday

WHERE: 200 E. Ferguson St.

WHY: To celebrate the official opening of a new downtown parking garage with 540 spaces

INFORMATION: smith-county.com