University of Duhok
College of Engineering
Civil Department
Fourth Year Students
2019-2020
Traffic Engineering
Lecture 9
Lecturer: Dr. Nasreen A. Hussein
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Parking Studies
Parking is one of the major problems that is created by the increasing road traffic. The availability
of less space in urban areas has increased the demand for parking space especially in areas like
Central Business District (CBD) and in areas where land uses include (business, residential, or
commercial). Parking studies are used to determine the demand for and the supply of parking
facilities.
Parking system
1. On street parking: on street parking means the vehicles are parked on the sides of the street
itself. Common types of on-street parking are as listed below. This classification is based on
the angle in which the vehicles are parked with respect to the road alignment.
Parallel parking: The vehicles are parked along the length of the road. The length available
to park N number of vehicles is:
L
N=
5.9
30◦ parking: In thirty degree parking, the vehicles are parked at 30◦ with respect to the
road alignment. In this case, more vehicles can be parked compared to parallel parking.
Also there is better maneuverability. Delay caused to the traffic is also minimum in this
type of parking.
L−0.58
N=
5
2
45◦ parking: As the angle of parking increases, more number of vehicles can be parked.
Hence compared to parallel parking and thirty degree parking, more number of vehicles
can be accommodated in this type of parking.
L−1.77
N=
3.54
60◦ parking: The vehicles are parked at 60◦ to the direction of road. More number of
vehicles can be accommodated in this parking type.
L−2.16
N=
2.89
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Right angle parking: In right angle parking or 90◦ parking, the vehicles are parked
perpendicular to the direction of the road. In this type of parking, the vehicles need
complex maneuvering and this may cause severe accidents. This arrangement causes
obstruction to the road traffic particularly if the road width is less. However, it can
accommodate maximum number of vehicles for a given curb length.
L
N=
2.5
2. Off street parking: In many urban centers, some areas are exclusively selected for parking
which will be at some distance away from the main stream of traffic. Such a parking is referred
to as off-street parking. They may be operated by either public agencies or private firms.
There are two types of off-street parking: Surface lots and Garages.
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Garages can be classified by general type into:
1. Above ground
2. Under ground
3. Integral
Garages can be classified by means of inter-floor travel into:
1. Mechanical
2. Ramps
Off-street facilities by method of operation can be classified into:
1. Attendant parking
2. Self-parking
Off-street facilities in terms of ownership can be classified into:
1. Privately owned and operated
2. Publicly owned and privately operated
3. Publicly owned and operated
Parking lots must be designed to achieve the following objectives:
1. Provide maximum number of spaces
2. Minimize travel discomfort while parking and driving between lots
3. Minimize interference of entrance and exit lanes with pedestrian and vehicle movements
external to the lot
Negative effects of parking
Parking has some ill-effects like congestion, accidents, pollution, obstruction to fire-fighting
operations etc.
1. Congestion: Parking takes considerable street space leading to the lowering of the road
capacity. Hence, speed will be reduced, journey time and delay will also subsequently
increase. The operational cost of the vehicle increases leading to great economical loss to
the community.
2. Accidents: Careless maneuvering of parking and unparking leads to accidents which are
referred to as parking accidents. Common type of parking accidents occur while driving
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out a car from the parking area, careless opening of the doors of parked cars, and while
bringing in the vehicle to the parking lot for parking.
3. Environmental pollution: They also cause pollution to the environment because stopping
and starting of vehicles while parking and unparking results in noise and fumes.
4. Obstruction to firefighting operations: Parked vehicles may obstruct the movement of
firefighting vehicles. Sometimes they block access to buildings.
Definition of Parking Terms
Space-hour: is the use of a single parking space for a period of one hour.
Parking volume: is the total number of vehicles that park in a study area during a specific length
of time, usually a day.
Parking accumulation: is the number of parked vehicles in a study area at any specified time.
Parking Accumulation at a Parking Lot
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Turnover: the average number of times that a parking space is used by different vehicles during
a given period of time. Obtained by dividing the parking volume for a specified period by the number of
parking spaces.
If 10 spaces used by 100 vehicles,
Turnover=100/10=10 vehicles per space
Parking load: the number of space-hours used during the specified period of time.
Parking duration: is the length of time the vehicle is parked at a parking bay. Average parking
duration is the ratio of total vehicle hours to the number of vehicles parked.
Parking index: Parking index is also called occupancy or efficiency. It is defined as the ratio of
number of bays occupied in a time duration to the total space available. It gives a measure of
how effectively the parking space is utilized. Parking index can be found out as follows:
Example: To illustrate the various measures, consider a small example in figure below which
shows the duration for which each of the bays are occupied (shaded portion). Now the
accumulation graph can be plotted by simply noting the number of bays occupied at time interval
of 15, 30, 45 etc. minutes is shown in the figure.
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The various measures are calculated as shown below:
Parking volume is given as 5 vehicles.
Parking load is given as (1+2+1+0+1+2+3+1) 15/60= (11×15)/60 = 2.75 veh hour
Average parking duration is computed as 2.75 veh hours/5 veh=33 min
Parking turnover is obtained as (5 veh/2 hours)/3 bays= 0.83 veh/hr/bay
2.75 𝑣𝑒ℎ ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟
Parking index is calculated as ∗ 100 = 45.83%
3∗2 𝑣𝑒ℎ ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠
Methodology of Parking Studies
To carry out a parking study, it is necessary to have information on the following points:
1. Inventory of existing parking facilities.
2. Collection of data on parking accumulation, parking turnover, and parking duration.
3. Identification of parking generators.
4. Collection of information on parking demand.
5. Information on related factors, such as financial, legal, and administrative matters, may also
be collected.
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Prohibited Parking
It is desirable to prohibit parking at certain locations and for a period to ensure safety and
convenience. Such locations are:
1- Near intersections:
It is general practice to prohibit parking for a distance of about 50 m.
2- Narrow streets:
In busy streets of the central area, it is generally desirable to prohibit parking on two-way
street <5.75 m wide and one-way streets<4.0 m wide.
3- Pedestrian crossing:
It is desirable to prohibit parking within about 8m from the pedestrian crossing.
4- Structures:
Bridges, tunnels, underpass ….
5- Entrance driveways
Prohibit parking in front of entrance driveways
