File:Mohawk Parking Ramp, Buffalo, New York - 20210908.jpg

English: The Mohawk Parking Ramp, 477 Washington Street at East Mohawk Street, Buffalo, New York, September 2021. An open-sided structure of reinforced concrete that was typical of parking ramp design of its era, the Mohawk Ramp is the first of three that were opened in the autumn of 1955 by Buffalo Civic Auto Ramps (the others were the Seneca Ramp, on what's now that site of Seneca One Tower, and the Eagle Ramp, the bones of which still live insider the shell of the Robert B. Adam Ramp, whose 2003 construction saw three additional levels and a new exterior façade added to the original structure). The ramp cost $1.5 million to build, had space for 611 vehicles, and at the time of its opening charged a rate of 35¢ for the first two hours of parking and 15¢ for each additional hour up to a daily maximum of $1, and offered monthly parking for $15. It's notable as the first parking ramp in the country to have been built under a then-innovative scheme that became known as the "Buffalo plan" when copied by other cities: Buffalo Civic Auto Ramps was founded by a consortium of downtown retail, banking, and business interests who financed the ramp's construction using city-backed bonds whose interest and principal were paid off over a span of 30 years by parking revenues, after which point ownership of the ramps reverted to the city.