Reassessing On-Street Parking

Abstract

The ongoing debate about the merits and drawbacks of on-street parking offers few definitive answers because comprehensive research in this area has been lacking. The goal is to develop a better understanding of the gamut of issues related to on-street parking, ranging from parking demand and the pedestrian environment to less researched topics such as the efficiency of land use. In addition, the basic question of safety is addressed in a more precise way than previously by taking into account actual vehicle speeds and crash severity levels. The investigation points to on-street parking as crucial in benefiting activity centers on numerous levels. Users of the downtowns consistently valued these land-efficient on-street parking spaces over and above off-street surface lots and garages. Low-speed streets with on-street parking also had the lowest fatal and severe crash rates of any road category in the study of 250 Connecticut roadway segments. Part of the reason is that the presence of parking had a measurable effect on vehicle speeds. On-street parking is not purely a device to be used in the right environment; rather, it is a tool to help create that right environment. On-street parking should be more commonly used but especially in situations in which the road is part of the destination and the intent is to cause drivers to slow down. Results suggest that these places are safer, are more walkable, require less parking, and have more vitality.