Downtown Parking Study 2024 Final

i
6602 E. 75th Street, Suite 210

Indianapolis, IN 46250
317.842.6890
May 10, 2024
City of Knoxville
400 Main Street
Knoxville, TN 37902
The team at Walker Consultants has enjoyed visiting and learning about the City of Knoxville as we have
conducted our parking system analysis. Downtown Knoxville is an energetic community in a condensed, walkable
area that is bolstered by the lively nature of students in the Fort Sanders area, creating an overall vibe that is
enthusiastic and welcoming. It’s easy to see all the good things happening in Knoxville and the parking that
supports it all.
This report is designed to provide a basis for discussion and a guide for policy, decision-making, and strategic
planning for parking as Knoxville’s downtown areas continue to grow. A few takeaways:
• There is, overall, plenty of parking in the downtown area that accommodates today’s needs as well as
future development.
• Centralized oversight across all parking operations, policy, and strategy is critical to transitioning from
overseeing assets to managing a system.
• Knoxville has an opportunity to improve the experience of visitors to downtown in locating their parking
options.
• As Knoxville continues to grow, opportunities exist to improve and ensure parking remains a positive
experience for all.
Downtown Knoxville is a regional cultural metropolitan area that residents, businesses, patrons, event attendees,
and visitors want to experience. It is important for Knoxville to take the time to look forward and plan
strategically.
We look forward to the City of Knoxville’s continued progress and success with its parking program.
Sincerely,
WALKER CONSULTANTS
Thomas G. Szubka, CAPP, CPP

Director of Planning
Acknowledgments
City of Knoxville
Cheryl Ball, Chief Policy Officer
Chip Barry, Deputy COO, Downtown Coordination
Mark Elliott, Parking and Traffic Manager
Rebekah Jane Justice, Chief of Urban Design and Development
Kittrin Smith, Finance Deputy Director
Grant Rosenberg, COO
Carter Hall, Policy
Liz Albertson, City Planner
Xiangyu (Stephanie) Fang, Finance
Public Building Authority
Jayne Burritt, CEO
Alex Fusaro, Security Supervisor
Dusty Fox, Parking Services Manager
Downtown Knoxville Alliance
Michele Hummel, Executive Director
ASM Global (Civic Center Auditorium and Coliseum)
Misti Satterfield, Assistant General Manager
Knoxville Area Transit
Isaac Thorne
Knox County
Chris Caldwell, Chief Financial Officer/ Co-Chief of Staff
Walker Consultants
Tom Szubka
Jim Corbett
Max Holperin
Additionally, this report relied on the input and involvement of hundreds of

Knoxville citizens and visitors who spoke during listening sessions and offered their
thoughts through a public survey.
CITY OF KNOXVILLE, TN
PARKING SYSTEM EVALUATION
1 Introduction and Background
Downtown Knoxville is a vibrant and

quickly growing urban community
with abounding activities and events
throughout the year. The World’s Fair
Park, the riverfront, historic event venues,
and the flagship University of Tennessee
campus, are just a few of the destinations
that draw people downtown. Significant
downtown development is being planned
to accommodate the continued growth
of downtown residents and visitors.
Faced with the challenge of maintaining
Knoxville’s small-town charm and
accessibility while accommodating larger
events and new development, City staff
and stakeholders recognize the need to
implement parking best-practices.
This report and recommendations should

serve as a guide to the City of Knoxville
and its stakeholders to improve parking
management that support not only
current demands, but also downtown’s
continued success in the future. New
and existing challenges necessitate a
modern, best practice-based approach
to parking operations and management,
one that embraces technology, is rooted
in sound operational principles, and
can be flexible amidst changes in land
use, economic forces, and changing
transportation behaviors. Additionally, a
comprehensive approach toward parking
must align with other City policies and
goals, lead to financial sustainability, and
ensure a ‘right-sized’ parking environment
commensurate with Downtown Knoxville’s
dense urban landscape.
4 CITY OF KNOXVILLE, TN
NAVIGATING THIS DOCUMENT
This document is intended as a resource and roadmap for the City of Knoxville and City
staff responsible for forming, prioritizing, and implementing public parking policies.
Observations, opportunities, and recommendations herein are presented according
to four categories, or operational work flows: Organization, Policy, Operations &
Technology, and Communications/Branding/Wayfinding.
Organization
Policy
Operations & Technology
Communication , Branding, & Wayfinding
Each category of analysis follows a standard format:
Evaluation Recommendations Action Items

Identification of Topic introduction, Workplan with action
needs, issues, and recommended action items integrated into a
opportunities. items, priorities, and cohesive roadmap.
action items by phase.
This report was created alongside interviews and meetings with City staff and stakeholders,
utilizing public input gathered through listening sessions and a public survey, and from Walker
Consultant’s site visits and analysis of current conditions.
For more details on current conditions and the public survey, the following are included as
Appendixes to this document:
Appendix A: Phase 1 Task Report / Current Parking and Mobility Conditions
Appendix B: Public Parking Survey Results
PARKING SYSTEM EVALUATION 5

1
SUMMARY OF EXISTING CONDITIONS
Phase 1 of Walker’s evaluation of Knoxville’s parking system included a review of current
conditions for parking and accessibility in Downtown Knoxville. While the full Phase 1 report is
included as Appendix A to this report, the following is a summary of our findings.
Parking Land Use

Approximately 25%, or 93 acres, of developable land in Downtown Knoxville is dedicated
to parking. Seventy-four (74) acres of this is surface parking, the equivalent land area of
approximately 60 Market Square plazas. Currently, approximately 6% of Knoxville residents
commute to work by walking, biking, or using transit, which is less than other communities
with similar amounts of land dedicated to parking.
Downtown Parking Inventory

There are approximately 20,800 off-street parking spaces within the downtown study area.
About 33% of these are Public Building Authority (PBA)-managed public facilities, 11% are public
Civic Auditorium and Coliseum spaces
managed by ASM Global, and 56% are Downtown Public Parking Inventory, by
private. Type
There are a combined 9,734+ public parking

spaces within the downtown study area.
The majority (94%) are in off-street facilities,
and the remaining 552 spaces (9%) are
metered or short-term 15-minute spaces.
Additional public parking facilities are
available near the Downtown in the Fort
Sanders area and across the Tennessee
River at the 700+ space Riverfront Garage.
Parking Occupancy and Availability

The project team reviewed occupancy
reports provided by PBA for the period of Source: Walker Consultants, City of Knoxville
January 2023 through July 2023 reporting
daily peak demand for each facility. In Walker’s review of these occupancy reports, we observed
that there is a localized parking deficit in some areas but a significant oversupply of parking
across the system.
The Market Square Garage (MSG) reaches parking occupancies over 90% approximately six or
seven weekdays per month, and on most weekends. It may become increasingly frustrating
for drivers to park once occupancy is above 90% in garages without parking guidance systems
since drivers begin to circle and compete for remaining spots.
Meanwhile, the much larger State Street Garage (SSG) is only three blocks away from MSG on
the other side of Market Square and Gay Street and has much greater availability. SSG’s peak
occupancy exceeded 90% less than weekday per month, and average weekday peak parking
occupancy ranges between 56% and 64% by month.
1
Parking Land Use Coverage in Downtown Knoxville

1
The Dwight Kessel Garage (DKG) has even more parking availability nearly all of the time. The
garage never exceeded 60% occupancy in the four-month period between April and July 2023
(occupancy data before April was not collected/provided).
Between the State Street Garage and Dwight Kessel Garage alone, there are hundreds of
convenient parking spaces that are almost always available.
Market Square Garage (MSG) Weekday Peak Occupancy, 2023
State Street Garage (SSG) Weekday Peak Occupancy, 2023
Available parking
Occupied parking
Source: PBA
Note that data was unavailable for the State Street Garage between July 18th to 19th, 2023.
1
Map of Downtown Public Parking Assets

1
System Financial Review
Knoxville’s parking system is not currently or historically self-sustaining. Because of decreased
revenues resulting from the COVID pandemic, revenues did not meet operating expenses
in 2020 and 2021, resulting in a negative net operating income (NOI). For the 5-year period
between 2019 and 2023, the parking system had a negative NOI, requiring transfers from the
City’s general fund. Without a positive NOI, the parking fund has not been able to put aside
funding for capital improvement projects including structural repairs and technology upgrades.
When they occur, these repairs are also paid from the City’s general fund instead of the parking
enterprise fund.
For the 5-year period between 2019 and 2023, general fund transfers into the
parking system have amounted to approximately $2.37 million. In addition to
covering the gap in operating expenses, these funds have been used to pay
for capital repairs such as the State Street Garage expansion. Given the rising
costs of both operating and capital repair expenses, Walker projects that the
parking system will continue to rely on general fund transfers unless changes
are made to increase parking revenue and/or decrease expenses.
Historic 5-year Parking Fund Performance (Excluding Capital Investments)

Total
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2019-
2023
Net Operating Income
(Excluding General Fund $66,588 ($223,782) ($548,310) $115,793 $313,401 ($276,311)
Transfer)
General Fund Transfer $1,600,000 $0 $2,150 $130,000 $639,950 $2,372,100
Net Operating Income

(After General Fund $1,666,588 ($223,782) ($546,160) $245,793 $953,351 $2,095,789
Transfer)
Source: City of Knoxville
There are several factors limiting the City’s ability to generate sufficient revenues to cover
operating and capital expenses related to its parking system. The City’s agreement for the
Riverwalk Garage requires the City to maintain and manage the parking structure while only
getting compensation for 34.78% of expenses incurred. The City offers free parking on nights
and weekends, representing a significant source of unrealized revenue. There are several pre-
existing agreements that offer some organizations significant discounts on monthly parking
fees. Finally, income from parking citations does not go into the parking fund. Altogether, these
limitations make it difficult for the parking fund to become self-sustaining.
2 Stakeholder Engagement
INTRODUCTION
Public and community engagement was essential to the development of this parking
evaluation. The input received helped guide specific strategies and fostered responsive
solutions to better reflect the overall parking and accessibility vision for Downtown Knoxville.
Engagement included conducting four listening sessions with targeted focus groups consisting
of downtown residents; downtown businesses; event venues, schools, and churches; and with
hotels and businesses involved in hospitality and tourism. The project team heard from 48
attendees during these listening sessions in November 2023.
In addition to listening sessions with stakeholders, a public survey was conducted for
approximately five weeks between November and December 2023. The reach of the survey
was successful in targeting Knoxville residents, downtown workers, and visitors. A total of 1,381
people responded to the survey, comprised of 12% downtown residents, 57% Knoxville residents
living outside of downtown, and 31% frequent or occasional visitors.
Listening Session Overview

The following columns highlights what the project team heard about the strengths and
challenges associated with the parking system from each group of stakeholders. Note that
these concepts represent what we heard from stakeholders that were mostly agreed upon by
each group, although we point out that several topics generated additional debate that was
simplified for the purposes of this report.
2
Downtown Resident Focus Group Perceptions
Strengths Challenges
• Walkable downtown • Traffic congestion downtown

• Downtown feels like a neighborhood with • Infrequent enforcement of short-term
a strong sense of community parking
• Parking is generally available in parking • Parking availability and restriction
structures signage is unclear.
• Many residents don’t need parking on- • Temporary parking closures for special-
site as long as parking is available close- use on-street parking space reservations
by are confusing
• Some developments can share parking • Lack of awareness about which parking
facilities with other land uses facilities have monthly parking permits
• Municipal parking facilities are more available to purchase
affordable than private parking facilities. • Concern about lack of parking to support
• Public transportation system being re- future development
organized post-COVID • Overbuilt parking takes away space that
• Stop-n-Go parking spaces are well used could otherwise be used for parks or
and appreciated residential development
Downtown Business Focus Group Perceptions

• Growing downtown means more foot • Employee parking is expensive

traffic than ever • Limited public parking in Old City for
• Downtown residents present a strong employees and customers
customer base • Street parking is unavailable in Old City
• Free parking during nights and during evenings and weekends
weekends encourages longer business • Perception around downtown safety
hours limits the distance that patrons are
• Parking enforcement is fair and willing to walk at night
consistent • Street parking is generally unavailable
• Free trolley is a popular amenity throughout downtown during business
hours
• Lack of downtown short-term parking.
• Time limits on-street limits the time that
people spend downtown
• Lack of awareness about where monthly
parking permits are available
• Lack of transparency and communication
with stakeholders

2 Event Venues, Schools, & Churches Focus Group
Perceptions
• State Street Garage expansion added • Competition between groups who want/
more available downtown parking need to reserve street parking spaces
• Knoxville has several events throughout • Parking is available but sometimes not in
the year that draw tens of thousands of convenient locations
visitors • Need for parking coordination between
• Knoxville attracts large national venues
conferences and performances • Blackstock Lot isn’t convenient or
• Bus system and trolleys support desirable because of poor lighting, poor
downtown mobility security, and distance from other land
• Event-goers and visitors are willing to pay uses
premium for convenient parking • Convention center and other events take
away parking from permit-holders
• Limited monthly permits are sold
because spaces need to be held for event
parkers
• Concern that construction will decrease
amount of parking
Hospitality and Tourism Focus Group Perceptions
• Free parking nights and weekend • Lack of awareness of parking options,

• Consistent availability in Dwight Kessel
especially during events
Garage and TDOT surface lots • Venues and businesses don’t know how
• Parking availability similar to or better
to communicate where available parking
than similar cities will be during events
• Concern about growth causing parking
• People expect to pay when visiting or
going to events shortages
• Large developments competing for
• People want to come downtown
regardless of parking situation limited permits in City parking facilities
• Bus system isn’t used as first choice for
• Consistently high hotel occupancy rates
commuting
• Popular events and conventions
• Poor options for people with limited
throughout the yea
mobility
• Bus system and trolleys support
• Parking availability and restriction
downtown mobility
signage unclear
• Parking is affordable compared to peer
• Limited delivery and freight parking
cities
2
Public Survey Overview
The project team developed an online survey that gathered input from the public between
November 4 and December 6, 2023. The survey was distributed through the City of Knoxville
and publicized by several local news and social media sites, including WBIR/Chanel 10, WATE/
Chanel 6, WIVK-FM, and the r/Knoxville Reddit group.
The typical survey respondent is over age 34; lives in Knoxville, drives downtown at least once
per week; goes downtown for dining, entertainment, or shopping; and uses a City-owned
parking structure or surface parking lot.
Survey results highlighted that parking is almost always available except during popular events.
A majority of respondents (62%) responded that they need to find alternative parking locations
during special events. Respondents found that parking costs in Downtown Knoxville are similar
(27%) or less expensive (36%) than similar local and regional centers.

2
Respondents were asked about their

Parking Management Triangle
preference between the cost of parking,
finding available parking spaces quickly,
and having parking located in a convenient
place close to their final destination.
Although two of the three criteria can be
met simultaneously in a thriving urban
environment such as Downtown Knoxville, it
is impossible to meet all three simultaneously.
To offer free and consistently available parking
close to parkers’ destinations would require
an enormous amount of surface parking
similar to what Downtown Knoxville looked
like decades ago when there was much less
downtown activity. The survey indicated that
the most preferred option was to keep parking
affordable and available, but less convenient.
About 14% of respondents prefer to pay for parking using their phone, although this is not
currently an option at any public parking facilities or on-street parking. Most people prefer to
pay with a credit or debit card (58%), and 12% prefer to pay by cash.
Safety and security are regarded as highly important when respondents choose a parking
location. Approximately 8% of open comments expressed a need for more safety. Additionally,
respondents indicated that parking signage was average (42%) or below average (38%),
suggesting a lack of clear messaging and communication about where to find available
parking.
The full results of the public survey is included in Appendix B to this report.
3 Evaluation of Needs, Issues,
& Opportunities
INTRODUCTION
An evaluation of current systems, operations, and management of parking in Knoxville was
performed through a review of system data, past plans, peer municipalities, meeting with
stakeholders, review of public survey comments, and engagement and coordination with City
personnel. Through these efforts, several key needs, issues, and opportunities were identified.
The identified items below are intended to address the question, “what are we solving for?,” and
form the basis of the recommendations that follow.
Identified needs, issues, and opportunities in this section are organized by topic category or
operational workflow:
Communication
Operations Branding
Organization Policy
Technology Wayfinding

3 Organization
Public parking management responsibilities are currently split among several public entities.
The City of Knoxville and Knox County both own several off-street public parking facilities,
all of which are operated by the Public Building Authority (PBA). The PBA’s Parking Services
Department team consists of 24 members when fully staffed, with three (3) vacancies as of
November 2023. Additionally, there are over 2,000 parking spaces in three (3) City-owned
garages adjoining the Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum, all of which are managed on
behalf of the City by national venue and event company ASM Global.
Downtown street parking is managed by the City of Knoxville’s Transportation Engineering

Division and enforced by the PBA’s Security Division. The PBA’s on-street enforcement team
consists of 18 members when fully staffed, with four (4) vacancies as of November 2023.
Transportation Engineering is responsible for curb management including meter collections
and repair, reserving metered parking spaces, valet parking, commercial loading, bus parking,
and road closures. These tasks are primarily undertaken by three full time staff and a parking
and traffic supervisor.
With a parking management ecosystem that is split among several departments and entities,
the City is struggling with the organizational capacity to make informed policy decisions and
ensure that daily management actions align with the City’s goals and objectives.
3 Organization
Organizational Coordination: Siloed Mission and Goals: The City does not have
departments and entities responsible for a stated mission or goals when it comes to
parking management and operations downtown parking. Coming to a consensus
discourages a coordinated approach toward on an organizational mission statement and
managing the entire on- and off-street short- and long-term parking and mobility
parking system. There are limited channels to goals is necessary to ensure that all related city
coordinate parking with Knoxville Area Transit departments and transportation entities have
(KAT), micro-mobility planning, and Knoxville- a coordinated approach and can work toward
Knox County planning. these goals on a day-to-day basis.
Capital Budgeting: A comprehensive multi- Key Performance Indicators: Without a City

year capital improvements plan for all public employee responsible for overseeing both
parking assets has not been identified. parking finance and operations, data which
Understanding which capital improvements is collected by the PBA and other entities
need to be prioritized is critical for annual and may not be sufficiently analyzed by the City
strategic budgeting purposes. There is no to track performance over time. This leads to
designated entity within the City responsible uncertainty about the parking system’s overall
for maintaining a comprehensive capital health and reduces flexibility when making
improvement plan and advocating for project policy decisions.
completion across all parking facilities.
Transparency: During stakeholder
System Management: Parking structure engagement, the project team heard from
management and street enforcement have the public that there is confusion about how
been contracted out to the PBA. However, parking fees are determined and how parking
there is not a designated individual within City revenues are used.
government who is responsible for overseeing
and managing the parking component of Stakeholder Engagement: Communication
the PBA’s contract and how it impacts other outlets are not in place for regular outreach
parking initiatives. Additionally, there is between the City and stakeholders related to
no designated individual who coordinates parking. This contributes to misinformation
across all involved parking entities for finance and poor perceptions of parking operations
and budgeting efforts, strategic parking and customer service.
system planning, and policy monitoring and
advancement. Support of Change: City staff and leadership
are supportive of changes to the parking
system. Residents and stakeholders are
supportive of a more managed approach
toward a parking system for everyday needs
and as the City continues to grow and become
a destination for events and tourism.

3 Policy
Current policy encouraging efficient parking operations and management is limited.
Additionally, there is often no policy to serve, or policy does not align with, City goals involving
equity, transportation accessibility, and sustainability objectives. Given rising expenses and
deferred capital investments necessary to keep parking structures safe and in good condition,
the parking fund is not on a sustainable financial path. The parking fund should be self-
supporting (not impacting the City’s general fund) and should provide for reinvestment into
the parking system for maintenance, enhanced services, optimizing utilization, and promoting
fair and consistent enforcement.
An upside is that because there are no parking minimums in the Downtown Knoxville zoning
district and several private surface lots are set to undergo redevelopment, the City has a
higher degree of influence when making policy decisions about parking. There is opportunity
to improve parking policies such that the City of Knoxville can manage the downtown
transportation environment in an efficient, flexible, and nuanced way that responds to
changing market conditions and the constant transformation of the downtown landscape.
Based on evaluation and assessment of current conditions, the following key needs, issues, and
opportunities have been identified to promote consistent and responsive policy development
that aligns with existing City goals and objectives.
Evolution of Parking and Access around Market Square
1920’s
1960’s
2020’s
3 Policy
Process Standardization: Clear policies Distribution of Parking Demand:

for when to implement changes to the Demand for parking is not evenly
parking system are not in place. For distributed across the Downtown, with
example, there are limited data points higher levels of activity and demand
and performance indicators used to around Market Square and Gay Street.
determine when to make parking rate While there is ample parking available
changes, or to create policies regarding system-wide, high parking activity in
how curb use allocation should be the core area leads to perceptions of a
determined. parking shortage. There are opportunities
to redistribute parking demand to
Reporting Procedures: There are improve overall utilization.
no procedures or policies in place
which require the PBA, ASM, and City Curb Management: There is no strategic
Transportation Engineering, all of whom plan in place which comprehensively
manage different aspects of parking for governs use, payments, and space
the City, to regularly report to a single allocation for the wide variety of curb
person with oversight for all components. users including freight and delivery
Facility-level financial statements and vehicles, hotels and guests, restaurants
trend analyses need to be leveraged to and patrons, pedestrians, bikers, and
inform decision-making. parkers. As a result, decisions about
changes are often made in a vacuum.
Mission Management: Use of parking
as an economic development tool Transportation Equity: Not everybody
rather than self-sustaining enterprise in Knoxville drives, and those who don’t
undermines parking operations and are typically among disadvantaged
financial stability. This entrenches groups such as people with physical or
previous policy decisions that may not mental disabilities, elderly residents, and
align with the current administration’s people who cannot afford a vehicle. The
goals. current system inequitably requires these
groups to pay for parking through taxes
Fiscal Health: Without general fund even though they do not use the system.
transfers, current projections suggest Free night and weekend parking tends
the City’s parking enterprise is not to benefit suburban visitors coming for
on a path to financial sustainability, evening entertainment, while downtown
especially considering new technology workers or their employers do typically
procurement, addressing deferred have to pay for parking.
maintenance, and improved wayfinding
and signage. Environmental Stewardship: Subsidized
parking stands at odds with the City’s goal
for an 80% reduction in carbon emissions
by 2050. Discounted parking encourages
people to drive downtown rather than
consider more environmentally friendly
transportation modes.

3 Operations & Technology
There are four (4) City-owned and two (2) County-owned, and one (1) joint City- and privately-
owned parking structures which serve employee, City staff, resident, event, and transient
parking needs throughout the Downtown and Old City. There are another three (3) garages at
the Coliseum within a short walking distance of downtown attractions and businesses, which
are managed by a third-party operator along with the Civic Center and Coliseum. Additionally,
private parking garages and surface lots are scattered throughout the Downtown and Fort
Sanders areas. However, several private surface lots are expected to undergo redevelopment
which will place greater demand on public parking facilities and require a more sophisticated
management approach.
There are over 900 managed parking meter spaces in the Downtown and Fort Sanders areas,
with a mix of 15-minute Stop’n’Go spaces, 30-minute, 1-hour, 2-hour, and 10-hour time limits. A
reliance on single-space parking meters does not permit efficient enforcement and collection
operations. Significant opportunity exists to enhance technology and operations of the parking
system to improve the customer experience, optimize parking availability, and change parking
behaviours for the ongoing success of a vibrant downtown.
3 Operations & Technology
Limited Contract Management: Many Meter Cash Collection: The City spends
economic development deals have locked in a substantial portion of meter revenue on
parking rates for years, with no mechanism to bank fees associated with processing cash
adjust rates. This limits the maximum number and coins. Two transportation engineering
of parking permits that can be sold at market employees are typically tasked with collecting
rates for some facilities. coins from meters and counting them.
There are opportunities to reduce costs and
Asset Maintenance: Facility condition eliminate risk associated with cash-handling
assessments have not been regularly by eliminating cash payments.
performed. When condition assessments are
performed by the City or PBA, findings are not Payment Options: The City does not currently
adequately communicated across parking- accept mobile payments for parking. Offering
related organizational entities. a mobile payment solution would promote a
more efficient and user-friendly system.
Performance Measurement: The financial
performance and utilization of the City’s on- Meter Collections and Maintenance:
and off- street parking spaces is not regularly Knoxville’s single-space meters reduce the
benchmarked against set metrics or industry efficiency of enforcement, revenue collection,
best practices. management, and maintenance. Moving
toward an asset-lite operation would enable
Data Collection and Analytics: A greater flexibility and cost savings.
combination of no centralized system,
and limited technology and management Enforcement: There is a perception among
practices (e.g., leaving the parking garage some people in Knoxville that nothing
gates ‘up’ on nights and weekends) results in will happen if somebody illegally parks on
poor data collection and analysis efforts, which the street. The issue stems from a spread-
prevents a data-driven approach toward policy out enforcement team that enforces both
decisions and day-to-day operations. Downtown and Fort Sanders using visual
checks of meter payment rather than modern
Event Management and Coordination: license-plate-recognition technology. State
With a new multi-use stadium opening laws regarding vehicle impoundment and
in 2025, there will be a greater need for booting limit the City’s ability to enforce
deliberate event parking management. citation payment.
There are opportunities to utilize existing
parking facilities (including the Coliseum) Process Improvements: Management
to accommodate additional event parking practices regarding on-street curb use
demand with deliberate coordination reservations are inefficient, resulting in poor
efforts between event organizers, facility communication between enforcement, police,
management, and the public. and the customer.
Garage Cashier Staffing: Exit lanes are staffed

by cashiers at all City and County garages.
There are opportunities to reduce expenses
and reallocate staff labor to make the system
more efficient through automated access
control and payment.

3 Communications, Branding, & Wayfinding
Parking is typically the first and last thing that people do when they visit Knoxville. Making
the experience as easy as possible will help ensure visitors have positive perceptions of their
overall experience in Downtown Knoxville. Creating positive perceptions about parking involves
marketing a specific brand and message, promoting access and wayfinding to popular
destinations, having vibrant colors and aesthetics around parking structures, and coordinating
parking with other experiences and modes of exploring downtown.
Clear Recognizable Parking Brand: There

is no distinct recognition of public parking
facilities, meaning that parkers cannot easily
distinguish between private and public
parking facilities. This leads parkers to conflate
all downtown parking as the same rather than
purposefully selecting public facilities as their
parking destination.
Parking Website/App: No single website

hosts all downtown parking-related
information. Likewise, there is not a Knoxville-
branded app that can assist parkers using their
phones.
Coordinated Garage Signage: All of the

parking garages have digital parking
availability signage at their entrances. Garages
have a light-green marquee sign at the front,
although some are becoming faded.
Pedestrian Wayfinding: Once parked in a

garage, it is not clear how to get to popular
final destinations. An on-street pedestrian
signage system would help point visitors
toward top destinations such as Gay Street,
Market Square, Old City, the Stadium, the
Sunsphere, and the City/County Building.
Integration With Other Transit Modes: In a

busy downtown environment, some people
may park in more peripheral garages and
walk, bike, or scooter to their final destination.
Sharable micro-transit options placed inside or
near parking facilities could help expand the
service radius of each garage.
4 Recommendations and
Roadmap
The following recommendations are presented as a guide for the City of Knoxville to
address the needs, issues, and opportunities identified in the previous section, and
offer an implementation roadmap.

Organization
INTRODUCTION meters, counting collections, and managing

permits. The PBA’s on-street enforcement
Parking management responsibilities are team consists of 18 staff members, with four
currently split among several public entities. vacancies as of November 2023.
The City of Knoxville and Knox County own
separate off-street public facilities but have Finally, there are over 2,000 parking spaces
both negotiated contracts for the Public in three City-owned garages adjoining the
Building Authority (PBA) to manage the Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum, all
facilities. The PBA has no taxing authority, so of which are managed on behalf of the City
it derives revenues from management fees by national venue and event management
and net parking revenues, along with non- company ASM Global.
parking-related revenue streams. According
to the PBA’s financial statements, there Organization Quick Access Links:
were 9,150+ total parking spaces under its
management in 2023. 1. Organizational Structure
Downtown on-street parking is managed 2. Event Parking Coordination

by the City of Knoxville’s Transportation
Engineering Department and enforced by 3. System Management and Oversight
the PBA’s Security Division. Transportation
Engineering is responsible for curb 4. Capital Budgeting
management including meter collection
and repair, meter rentals, valet parking, 5. Enterprise Model Structure
commercial loading, bus parking, and road
closures. These tasks are performed by a 6. Stakeholder Leadership
parking services manager and three staff
members. Staff members’ primary daily 7. Transparency and Accountability
tasks rotate between collecting cash from
1 Organizational Structure
There is no single department within the City of Knoxville that oversees and coordinates all
parking-related policy, management, and budgeting. Instead, multiple departments and
agencies have developed their own management practices and policies. This has created a
siloed environment that does not allow for a coordinated mission and system-wide priorities to
prevail. A sustainable and more centralized organizational structure should be implemented to
ensure proper coordination between City departments, the PBA, and other downtown parking
operators including Knox County and ASM. A dedicated leader who understands how policy,
municipal financing, and parking operations impact each other is required to successfully
implement the recommendations included in this parking evaluation.
Under a more centralized organizational structure, a single parking division in the City
government would be responsible for developing a parking mission statement, goals, and
objectives; and coordinating policy and implementation across the system. This division
would likely be hosted within an existing City department and led by a Parking Division
Manager. The Manager would be responsible for strategic planning, policy implementation,
negotiating parking contracts with private developers and institutions, and overseeing the
City’s management and enforcement contract with the PBA and ASM. Any job position
within the Parking Division would include clear, stated, day-to-day roles and responsibilities.
Written descriptions of roles and responsibilities are helpful when it is necessary to evaluate
which position may be best suited to take on new or additional tasks. Position roles and
responsibilities should be updated regularly as the functions performed by each position evolve
over time.
The Parking Division should convene monthly or quarterly meetings with related departments/
divisions, including Policy, Special Events, Engineering, Urban Design and Development, and
the downtown liaison to set goals and review performance during the previous period. Initial
meetings should be focused on establishing a mission and key goals for the parking system
that are consistent with other City and departmental policies.
Related: Event Parking Coordination | System Management and Oversight | Capital Budgeting
| Future Parking Rate Changes | Special Development Agreements and Contracts
Short-Term Medium-Term Long-Term

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$

1 Organizational Structure, cont.
Long-Term Parking Division Org Chart
City Department
Parking Division
Parking Division
Manager
Parking Event Parking Administrative

Engineering Coordinator Assistant
Supervisor
3 FTE
The above graphic is a proposed organizational structure for the Parking Division. Note that
positions may change as the Parking Division evolves over time. Moving the parking-related
staff of the Transportation Engineering into the Parking Division is not an immediate need
but would amplify future coordination efforts. The two immediate full-time equivalent (FTE)
positions identified for the short-term are the Parking Division Manager position and the Event
Parking Coordinator position.
2 Event Parking Coordination
Knoxville stands out among its peers for the volume and variety of downtown events, which
together, draw tens of thousands of visitors. Events at the Knoxville Convention Center, Civic
Auditorium and Coliseum, Neyland Stadium, downtown theaters, and the new multi-use
stadium dramatically impact demand for parking. While there is almost always parking
available in the overall downtown parking system, event parking demand can fully occupy
parking in some popular facilities, leading to perceptions that parking is not available. Planning
and coordinating with event venues in advance of popular events is critical to ensure that
visitors have a positive experience when parking for an event.
Along with a Parking Division Manager, the City could significantly improve the customer
experience and manage event parking by creating an Event Parking Coordinator position.
The Event Parking Coordinator would assist in communication and coordination with event
venues and stadiums so the City and the PBA can plan ahead to manage parking demand
during event days. This coordinator would assist event venues during sales discussions to speak
about the anticipated parking availability during a potential event. The Coordinator would
also assist the PBA, KAT, and the Police Department to plan for potential changes to event
staffing, hold spaces open for event parkers, communicate operational changes to commuters,
and encourage early arrival to mitigate high traffic loads before events. Finally, the Event
Coordinator should have a role in tracking occupancy data after to events in order to develop
more accurate estimates of parking demand when planning for future events.
The PBA and Parking Division Manager should utilize this data to more accurately manage
how many monthly parking permits can be sold for each facility, and plan communication with
monthly parking customers in advance of events.
Related: Organizational Structure | Civic Auditorium and Coliseum Parking Policies | Stadium
District Access and Parking

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
Conventions
University of Tennessee
Food City Center and
Neyland Stadium
Theater
Event Parking performances
Coordinator
Knoxville Convention Multi-use

Center, Civic Auditorium stadium events
and Coliseum

3 System Management and Oversight
The City has contracted out the management of its off-street facilities and on-street
enforcement to the PBA as part of a broader contract between the City and the PBA. No City
employee is designated to oversee the parking components of this contract in conjunction
with all other parking efforts. Furthermore, there are no requirements for the PBA, ASM, or
Transportation Engineering to submit monthly reports to a single individual with oversight at
the City. The PBA currently submits quarterly reports, but the extent of their review by City staff
is unclear. Without contract oversight and reporting requirements, parking policymakers are
not always aware of management practices and cannot make data-driven decisions regarding
system management and finances.
Part of the Parking Division Manager’s role would include contract oversight and reviewing
monthly reports from the parking operations. The City should require entities managing public
parking to send monthly reports to the City’s Parking Division Manager, including a cover
letter, variance report describing any deviations from the budget, summary of revenues and
expenses accrued, and progress toward achieving goals and key performance metrics. During
future contract negotiations with entities managing public parking, it is recommended that
the City consider the costs and benefits of outsourcing operations to a third-party operator(s)
to manage off-street facilities and on-street enforcement. The City should seek management
proposals from parking operators on a regular basis (prior to contract renegotiations with the
PBA) to compare with the PBA’s financial and operations reports to ensure that the PBA is
efficiently managing its expenses and operations in line with peers.
Related: Organizational Structure

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
4 Capital Budgeting
Understanding necessary and desired capital improvements and maintenance is critical for
annual and strategic budgeting purposes. The PBA has conducted structural assessments on
most garages. However, Walker observed that long-term capital budgeting is not undertaken
in a comprehensive manner and there is not a designated individual to strategize how capital
projects will be funded long-term. Several City staff members indicated that waiting for a
maintenance item to reach critical repair need is the status quo, as opposed to setting aside
a regular capital reserve budget for preventative maintenance. If future capital projects are
underestimated and underbudgeted, then maintenance is deferred and repair costs grow. Poor
maintenance and upkeep can significantly shorten an asset’s lifespan. Of course, deferring
maintenance of a parking facility also increases the risk of hazards and harm to public safety.
The Parking Division Manager, in coordination with related departments and parking
management entities, would be responsible for creating and maintaining a capital
improvement plan (CIP) specific to the parking system. The CIP should address the cost and
timing for surface lot resurfacing and striping, parking structure conditions assessments
and repairs, on-street meters and enforcement asset repair and replacement, back-end
technology and software upgrades, parking access revenue control systems (PARCS) repair and
replacement, aesthetic and beautification needs, and wayfinding and availability signage repair
and replacement. A qualified professional engineering firm should be retained to perform
conditions assessments among other tasks associated with developing a complete CIP.
Related: Organizational Structure Related: Organizational Structure | Enterprise Model

Structure | Garage Maintenance and Repair Planning

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$

5 Enterprise Model Structure
While the City of Knoxville municipal parking fund is set up as an enterprise fund, its system
revenues have historically not been sufficient to cover operating and capital expenses. In order
to become a true enterprise system that is financially self-sustaining, all revenues, operating
expenses, and capital expenses associated with operating and maintaining the parking system
should be consolidated into a single fund. This would likely remain Fund 504, which could be
reorganized to include the Locust Street Garage and all parking capital projects.
It is recommended that the City of Knoxville begin setting aside funds in a capital reserve
account within the enterprise fund to be used to fund future off-street facility capital repairs
and maintenance projects, parking meter and signage updates, and future equipment/
technology replacement. Separate accounts may be used to directly tie funds set aside to
defined capital projects in the CIP. Ideally, the annual capital reserve set aside target should
be 1% of replacement cost for parking lots and parking structures (lots are typically $3,000 to
$5,000 per space to build and structures are typically $25,000 to $35,000 per space to build),
and 10% of replacement cost for parking equipment/technology (including PARCS, on-street
meter assets, and other technology used to operate and enforce parking). Until the enterprise
fund reaches financial self-sustainability, these reserve account set-asides are likely not
achievable. However, funds should begin to be put aside now to reduce negative impacts to
the parking fund and the City’s general fund in the future.
Related: Capital Budgeting | Garage Maintenance and Repair Planning

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
6 Stakeholder Leadership
Parking is something that nearly everyone has an opinion about. Unfortunately, gathering
resident feedback is often difficult to do without designating special sessions for public
engagement. Setting aside time on a regular basis to engage with residents and businesses
about parking will encourage community buy-in, which is critical as City staff begins
implementing the changes proposed in this report.
Walker recommends that as changes to the parking system are rolled out, the City organize
several town hall sessions with stakeholders to address questions and consider any additional
stakeholder feedback that may have not been previously involved. In the long term, it is
recommended that a stakeholder task force of downtown residents and businesses is
established to provide qualitative feedback about how the implementation of this report’s
recommendations is proceeding, and if there are any issues that need to be prioritized.
Related: Parking-Related Communications and Marketing Campaign

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
7 Financial Transparency and Accountability
Communication and transparency are important parts of cultivating a good relationship
between any public entity and its constituents. During Walker’s stakeholder engagement
sessions, the project team heard from the public that there is confusion about how parking fees
are determined and how revenues are used by the City.
On-street parking fees are charged in order to influence parking behavior so that parking is
available and convenient close to desirable destinations, as well as to pay for the maintenance
and operation of off-street parking structures and surface lots. Without charging for on-street
parking, employees and long-term parkers would quickly use all of the parking available in
desirable locations so that there would be no availability left for short-term parkers supporting
downtown businesses. Parking fees are typically reinvested in the parking system to support
off-street parking facilities, which can house significantly more vehicles than along street
curbs. Because off-street parking structures are not free to construct, maintain, and pay debt
service on, somebody will always pay for parking. Charging users for the costs to maintain and
operate the parking system is a rational nexus between the City’s need to manage parking
behaviors and be good fiscal stewards of public assets, and the public’s desire for convenient
and available parking.
To increase transparency of the parking enterprise’s finances and operations, the new
Parking Division should develop and publish an annual parking system report that details
accomplishments throughout the year and reports on key performance metrics. The report
should discuss plans for the upcoming year and work to communicate what the Division’s
mission is; why it makes certain decisions; how money flows through the system; and how
the managed parking system benefits visitors, residents, and the community’s economic
development.
Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) currently publishes a monthly operating report which is submitted
to the Knoxville Transportation Authority and highlights system finances, route performance
and rider counts for each route, and comparative year-over-year performance. A parking
performance report could function similarly to show occupancy of facilities, performance
metrics (such as desired utilization and revenue per space), and annual revenues and
expenditures. A brief 5 – 15 page report would be a digestible format for City staff in other
departments to read and use for their own policy purposes. The report should be published on
the City’s website for public viewership, and the Parking Division should issue a press release
celebrating the report’s release.
Related: On-Street Parking Pricing | Future Parking Rate Changes

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$

Implementation Action Items
Immediate Priorities
• Organize a new Parking Division
• Hire/Promote Parking Division Manager
• Hire/Promote Event Parking Coordinator
• Enact standards for regular reporting
from all public parking entities.
• Develop policy and goal for parking to
be self-funding
• Develop facility-specific Capital Medium-Term Focus
Improvement Plans
• Host regular public listening sessions/
• Set aside funding for capital reserves roundtables around parking and
downtown accessibility
• Develop annual parking report
Long-Term/Ongoing Focus
• Assess staffing levels and resources as
needed
• Convene regular meetings with parking-
related departments in the City to
coordinate policy and mission
• Evaluate organizational changes and
long-term vision
• Continue to measure goals and
performance indicators, and share
progress with the public
CITY OF KNOXVILLE, TN PARKING SYSTEM EVALUATION

Policy Policy Quick Access Links:
1. On-Street vs Off-Street Parking Policies
2. Curb Access Equity
INTRODUCTION 3. On-Street Parking Pricing
A primary goal for the City of Knoxville is to 4. Parking Citations and Fines
optimize the use of its parking assets while
transforming those assets into a system that 5. Passenger Loading
is sustainable. This requires modifying parking
rates and policies to help the City achieve its 6. Delivery and Freight Loading
goals for the parking system in Downtown
Knoxville. 7. Pedestrianization of Downtown Streets
Historically, the City has used parking as 8. Valet and Annual-Use Permits
an economic development tool to draw
residents and visitors to the downtown 9. Special-Use Reservations
area. However, over recent years the allure
of downtown as a tourist and quality-of- 10. Parklet and Outdoor Dining Policy
life destination has blossomed and now
overpowers the relatively minor draw of free 11. Parking Benefit Districts
or discounted parking. For the most part,
people are attracted to Downtown Knoxville
12. Off-Street Transient Parking Pricing
because of its stellar restaurants, bars, parks,
museums, theaters, outdoor events, and
the University of Tennessee, and much less 13. Off-Street Monthly Permit Availability
because of its parking situation. As these and Pricing
destinations continue to draw more residents
and visitors, there is concern that Knoxville 14. Aligning City and County Parking Rates
may lose its small-city character. Parking plays
a significant role in ensuring that visitors, 15. Future Parking Rate Changes
downtown residents, commuters, and event
attendees have access to the downtown 16. Special Development Agreements and
without dramatically changing its character. Contracts
The following industry-best-practice policy 17. Monetize TDOT Lots

recommendations are intended to balance
the accessibility needs of various downtown 18. Parking Requirements
user groups, with the City’s desire to make
the enterprise financially self-sustaining, and 19. Coordinated Policy for Private Parking
to maximize the use of available parking in Supply
support of the current and future needs of this
bustling and growing area. 20. Stadium District Access and Parking
21. Civic Auditorium and Coliseum Parking
22. Jackson Avenue Lot Redevelopment

1 On-Street vs Off-Street Parking Policies
The major policy levers to shape parking behaviors in an urban environment are enforcing time
limits and charging for parking. Without these mechanisms, people would leave their vehicles
in the most convenient locations throughout the day, which would severely limit the ability for
anybody else to use and access the surrounding businesses. Therefore, in popular areas that
generate consistent demand for nearby parking, the goal is to ensure that busier spaces are
not occupied for too long and that there is availability for people looking for convenient parking
near their destination. With only approximately 550 on-street downtown parking spaces and
tens of thousands of people coming into the downtown every day, the on-street parking
environment is a valuable commodity in high-demand. Without adequately pricing the limited
amount of on-street parking spaces, they would be quickly occupied by employees and other
long-term parkers, meaning that the space can be used by only one vehicle per day. Using
pricing mechanisms to encourage turnover of these spaces can effectively multiply the supply
of on-street parking spaces by permitting multiple vehicles to use the same parking space
throughout the day.
Parking rates should be set differently between on-street and off-street such that long-term
parking customers are encouraged to park in off-street facilities. Sections 3 and 12 discuss
recommendations around proper pricing for on- and off-street parking rate schedules, given
the different user types (i.e. short-term visitor and long-term employee) and the desired
behaviors of each group. Marketing, education, and aesthetic improvements can help
encourage parkers to use nearby parking structures rather than parking on the street. In fact,
for every on-street parking space, there are over 16 public off-street public parking spaces.
When reading this section, it is important to remember that policies can be used to affect
the behavior of different parking user groups. Recommendations 2 through 11 focus on
recommendations for on-street parking. These involve promoting turnover of spaces,
encouraging multi-modal access, and managing a public space that is used for private
activities such as valet operations and deliveries. Recommendations 12 through 22 focus on
recommendations for off-street parking. These involve managing the size of the parking
system, encouraging an adequate distribution of available parking spaces in parking structures,
and managing event parking demand.
Related: On-Street Parking Pricing | Off-Street Transient Parking Pricing

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
2 Curb Access Equity
In most cities, including Knoxville, the status quo has historically been to offer curb space
for temporary vehicle storage, at the cost of other potential curb uses and non-parker users.
Along with vehicle storage, curbs are also used for bus stops, freight and delivery loading,
passenger pickups and drop-offs, bike and scooter storage, bike lanes, outdoor dining, parklets,
stormwater retention and drainage, and pedestrian spillover space. The limited amount of curb
space and high demand from multiple user groups makes it highly valuable in the downtown
core. This report recommends using pricing mechanisms to equitably prioritize different curb
uses according to those with the most users.
For example, a bus stop or scooter corral can serve dozens of people per day, while parking all-
day can only serve one to six people per day. Bus stops and scooter share corrals should not be
charged because they serve a much greater number of users than would be served if the space
is only used for parking. Likewise, charging a higher parking rate encourages turnover so that
more users can use the same space throughout the day. It is recommended that the City make
curb accessibility an organizational goal , which could align future policymaking across related
departments.
Related: Gay Street Pedestrianization | Special-Use Reservations | Valet and Annual-Use

Permits | Parklets and Outdoor Dining Policy

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
Scooter Corral on Gay Street at Night

3 On-Street Parking Pricing
From a parking customer’s perspective, there would ideally be at least one available parking
space on the same block as their destination. To achieve this goal while also maximizing
use of the on-street parking inventory, a goal of on-street parking management should be
to have approximately 75% to 85% occupancy (leaving one or two open parking spaces per
blockface) during enforcement hours. On-site observations, stakeholder feedback, and previous
occupancy studies all suggest that parking spaces in the downtown core are between 85% to
100% occupied throughout the day, meaning that there is not sufficient availability for short-
term parking customers to find an available parking space close to their destination.
The City currently uses pricing and time limits to influence on-street parking behavior. However,
by increasing the parking fees, the need for time-limits could be reduced or eliminated and
would accomplish the same goals while allowing for greater flexibility for customers while
remaining consistent with other curb policies. Rather than
being required to move their vehicle after two hours, parkers
could continue parking on-street at a higher rate or choose
to park in a more affordable off-street facility.
Walker recommends eliminating time limits along with

increasing parking prices throughout Downtown and Fort
Sanders areas so that pricing alone is used to influence
behaviors. The following are recommended steps and
policies needed to accomplish this change in a fair and easy-
to-communicate manner.
1. Determine zones of “high-demand” and “low-demand” streets.
a. In Downtown, the “high-demand” zone would align with the current 2-hour time limits
and extend to include Old City.
b. Determining zones for Fort Sanders may be more difficult because demand is
decentralized between the medical center, university, and commercial areas. The
following streets in Fort Sanders are recommended as either “high-demand” or “low-
demand” areas.
c. Proposed locations of these designations are shown in maps on the following pages.
2. Create a policy to evaluate system-wide parking rate changes every 12 months from the
initial rate change. These rate changes would be based on a parking occupancy study
and on data collected throughout the year. The objective of rate changes is to consistently
achieve an on-street occupancy with one or two available spaces per blockface. Areas with
observed occupancies consistently below 60% would see rate reductions, and areas with
occupancies consistently above 80% would see rate increases.
3 On-Street Parking Pricing, cont.
Proposed Downtown Street Parking Designations

Proposed Fort Sanders Street Parking Designations
3. For the initial rate change, rates in “high-demand” areas are recommended to be set at
$2.00/hr., and parking spaces in “low-demand” areas are recommended to be set at $0.50/hr.
Payments should be prorated in 15-minute increments.
4. Change meter hours of operation to become consistent across the system so that all
metered parking is enforced between 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. daily. Walker recommends
charging for parking seven (7) days a week because hotels and event venues are generating
high parking demand throughout the week, even on Sundays. Parking management
throughout the week will ensure that access to nearby businesses is maintained.
a. The City may elect to make an exception to begin meter enforcement after 1pm on
Sundays.
5. Eliminate the citation category for overtime parking (Section 17-331) and continue to enforce
nonpayment of meters and safety-related violations.
6. Install signage which clearly indicates the price, hours of enforcement, and directions to
nearby parking structures.
7. Consistently enforce on-street parking via mobile license plate recognition (LPR).
Peer Review
Knoxville has a similar hourly parking rate in its core downtown as Chattanooga and Asheville,
and lower than Lexington. Knoxville currently has a combination of primarily 2-hour and 10-
hour meters, while peers do not have 10-hour meters. Walker’s recommendation to change
parking rates in the downtown core to $2.00 would remain consistent with peers like Lexington.
Knoxville would continue to offer discounted ($0.50/hr) on-street parking in low-demand areas.
Peer City On-Street Parking Rates and Hours of Enforcement
Median On-
Popu- On- On- On-street
Popula- House- street
City State lation street street enforce-
tion hold time
Density (low) (high) ment hours
Income limits
Mon - Sat
30-min,
8am - 6pm
Knoxville TN 195,889 1,932 $48,309 $0.30 $1.50 1-hr, 2-hr, (select streets
10-hr until 10pm)
Mon - Sat
Chattanooga TN 184,086 1,272 $57,703 $1.50 $1.50 2-hr 8am - 6pm
Mon - Sat
Asheville NC 93,776 2,080 $63,810 $1.50 $1.50 2-hr 8am - 6pm
2-hr, Mon - Fri

Lexington KY 320,347 1,137 $66,087 $0.75 $2.00 9am - 7pm
4-hr
Source: City Websites, American Communities Survey

Case Study
Omaha, Nebraska recently eliminated its time limits in favor of a demand-based pricing model.
Since it’s new pricing structure was implemented in May 2023, ParkOmaha staff have identified
a significant improvement in parking turnover and revenue collection, which has enabled the
system to facilitate better access to businesses and events while becoming financially self-
sustaining.
Source: ParkOmaha
Note that the implementation of the above recommendations would require changes to the
City’s Code of Ordinances, particularly Sections 17-326 to 17-331.
Related: On-Street vs Off-Street Parking Policies | Citations and Fines

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
4 Parking Citations and Fines
There were 46,201 citations issued in calendar year 2022. The number of citations issued in 2023
was about 25% lower month-to-month when compared to totals in 2022, which was attributed
to a combination of having newer staff, issues with enforcement software, and responding to
complaints about enforcement being predatory. A parking officer on patrol issues an average of
about 30 parking citations per day.
Parking citation rates should be set so that they discourage undesired parking behaviors and
ensure that parking customers do not habitually park in violation of City ordinances, while also
being reasonable and fair. The current rate schedule does not adequately discourage undesired
parking behaviors. For example, the fine for an Unpaid Meter violation is only $11.00, while off-
street parking on gamedays is $20.00, so people who are aware of the current parking citation
rates and find an available on-street parking space can illegally park on the street at a lower
cost compared to parking in an off-street facility. While it is possible to issue multiple citations
for an illegally parked vehicle, this requires consistent enforcement along the same route every
few hours. This is difficult to do under the current enforcement practice of walking routes and
checking each individual license plate without using license plate recognition (LPR) technology.
It is necessary to change the citation fee schedule along with the on-street rates to encourage
good parking behaviors and avoid potential loopholes. The following table shows Walker’s
proposed citation fee schedule. Note that because the proposed on-street rate change would
eliminate parking time limits, for metered parking, the Overtime Parking citation would only
apply to parking beyond the posted time limits on unmetered streets. Any failure to pay the
meter, regardless of whether the meter expired or was not paid at all, would fall under the
Unpaid Meter citation. While the proposed Unpaid Meter citation fee is less than the proposed
daily maximum on-street parking rate, it is possible to receive multiple citations per day if the
vehicle remains in violation. Section 17-72 and 17-98 of the City code should be amended to
provide that vehicles that remain in violation four hours after the initial citation is issued are
subject to receive a second citation.
During the first two months after the initial on-street metered parking rate change, it is
recommended that parking enforcement officers issue warnings to first-time offenders as the
City undergoes an education and marketing campaign surrounding the changes.
Citations paid online currently include a $2.50 convenience fee. Walker recommends
eliminating this fee to encourage online payments, which eliminates cash payments and
reduces staff time to process payments.
Finally, it is recommended that citation revenues are specifically directed into the parking
enterprise fund. This aligns with the goal of centralizing all parking-related revenues and
expenses to develop more accurate long-term financial projections.

4 Parking Citations and Fines, cont.
Current Citation Fee Schedule
Violation Type Fine (paid within 10 days) Fine (paid after 10 days)
Unpaid Meter $11.00 $20.00
Overtime Parking $11.00 $20.00
No Parking Area $16.00 $25.00
Improper Parking $16.00 $25.00
In Restricted Zone $16.00 $25.00
Fire Hydrant $26.00 $35.00
Fire Lane $26.00 $35.00
ADA Parking $50.00 $50.00
Proposed Citation Fee Schedule

Violation Type Fine (paid within 10 days) Fine (paid after 10 days)
$26.00 ($21.00 if paid within
Unpaid Meter $31.00
24 hours)
Overtime Parking
$26.00 $31.00
(only for unmetered spaces)
No Parking Area $26.00 $31.00
Improper Parking $26.00 $31.00
In Restricted Zone $26.00 $31.00
Fire Hydrant $36.00 $41.00
Fire Lane $36.00 $41.00
ADA Parking State Code ($200.00) State Code ($200.00)
Source: Walker Consultants
Note: All fines include a $1.00 state litigation tax.
4 Parking Citations and Fines, cont.
The recommended changes to Knoxville’s parking citation fee schedule will bring the parking
system in closer alignment with its peers, as shown in the following table.
Peer City Citation Schedule
Knoxville-
Lexington
Recommended
Chattanooga Asheville (before/ after 10
(before/ after 10
days)
days)
$26.00 ($21.00 $41.50 ($11.00 if
Unpaid Meter within 24 hours) paid within 10 $20.00 $15.00 / $30.00
/ $31.00 days)
$20.00 ($40.00
Overtime Parking $26.00 / $31.00 $35.00 subsequent $15.00 / $30.00
violation)
No Parking Area $26.00 / $31.00 $35.00 $20.00 $35.00 / $50.00
Improper Parking $26.00 / $31.00 $35.00 $20.00 $20.00 / $35.00
In Restricted Zone $26.00 / $31.00 $50.00 $30.00 $30.00 / $45.00
Fire Hydrant $36.00 / $41.00 $50.00 $50.00 $100.00 / $115.00
Fire Lane $36.00 / $41.00 $50.00 $50.00 $50.00 / $65.00
State Code $250.00 /

ADA Parking $50.00 $250.00
($200.00) $265.00
Source: City Ordinance Codes
Related: On-Street Parking Pricing | ‘Pay-by-Plate’ Enforcement | Citation Payment

Compliance

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$

5 Passenger Loading
The rapid ascent and continued popularity of transportation network companies (TNCs),
dominated by Uber and Lyft, has generated high demand for short-term pickup and drop-off
spaces in the downtown core. Since 2021, Knoxville has converted 21 of its on-street metered
spaces into short-term 15-minute “Stop-N-Go” spaces throughout the downtown. These spaces
are distributed around the city center on Gay Street, Union Avenue, Clinch Avenue, and Church
Street, as well as on Central Street in the Old City.
Residents and stakeholders expressed their appreciation for these spots. They perceive that the
expansion of these spaces has improved temporary access and loading. Walker recommends
that the City should continue to expand the number of these spaces on Union Avenue and
Market Street, south of Market Square, given the volume of TNC use throughout the area.
Consistent enforcement of these spaces should continue and would be aided by use of LPR
technology to ‘digitally-chalk’ license plates and avoid abuse of these spaces.
Related: Curb Access Equity | Delivery and Freight Loading

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
Recently added Stop-N-Go Parking on Wall Street
Source: KGIS
6 Delivery and Freight Loading
Many businesses on Gay Street and within the downtown core generate high demand for
delivery and freight loading space. Currently, parking along Gay Street is reserved for deliveries
between 6 am and 10 am on weekdays. However, there is a lack of delivery space in other parts
of the City and during other times of the day.
Consistent with curb accessibility and equity goals, it is recommended that the City considers
monetizing delivery and freight curb uses. Cities such as Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Nashville
have recently conducted ‘smart’ commercial loading zone monetization pilots which could be
used as a basis for a similar pilot in Knoxville. Implementation will become easier as more cities
across the country develop and implement best practices and approaches for managing smart
loading and delivery zones.
Section 17-352 of the City Code addresses loading zone designation but does not mention
any cost to designate loading zones. Walker recommends rewriting the ordinance to require
payment for the establishment of a loading zone near a particular business (while not reserving
the space for only that business) which would encourage loading zones to be installed where
there is a high demand for them, while reducing the number of loading zones requested in
areas where they would not be highly utilized. The fee to designate a loading zone should be
consistent with valet reservations and other uses which restrict use of a curb on a 24/7/365
basis. Enforcement should actively cite delivery and freight vehicles that are parked in metered
spaces without having paid the meter, as well as vehicles double-parked or parked in restricted
areas, to further encourage use of designated loading zones.
Related: Curb Access Equity | Passenger Loading | Valet and Annual-Use Permits

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$

7 Improving Pedestrian Access
The City of Knoxville has been experimenting with reorienting Gay Street and other downtown
streets to be fully or partially pedestrian-only. During four weekends in 2023, the 400 block of
Gay Street was fully open to pedestrians at night starting at 7:00 p.m. as part of a pilot project.
The pilot was ongoing during this project but the project team did not observe these street
closures during our site visit. Full or partial removal of parking from Gay Street would not
significantly change other aspects of this parking evaluation. There are approximately 90 on-
street parking spaces between the 300 and 900 blocks of Gay Street, which does account for
a significant portion of the downtown on-street parking spaces. However, there is significant
odd-street parking inventory in the vicinity of Gay Street, which could easily accommodate any
on-street parking demand displaced by the conversion of Gay Street to a pedestrian area.
Regardless of any potential future plans for street pedestrianization, the City should continue
shifting long-term parking customers toward off-street facilities through parking rate
mechanisms, marketing, signage, and branding. While shifting parkers away from the curb
and into public parking structures, the City should continue to offer valuable public right-of-way
for the public’s benefit through temporary street closures, sidewalk widening, and expanding
micro-mobility (such as bike, scooter, and walking) infrastructure.
Related: Curb Access Equity

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
Source: Visit Knoxville
8 Valet and Annual-Use Permits
The City currently issues annual parking permits to businesses that “perform regularly
occurring essential tasks that would normally be cited due to noncompliance with posted rules
and regulations,” according to the City’s parking website. This permit costs $250 per calendar
year and is mostly used by hotels for valet operations. As of December 2023, there were three
hotels using on-street valet parking space reservations: Embassy Suites, Hyatt Place, and the
Oliver Hotel.
Considering the value of these spaces for other potential uses, these permits are currently
significantly under-priced. As metered parking, these spaces would likely generate more
revenue than the $250 per year that hotels currently pay for 24/7 exclusive access to a parking
space. Under the proposed rate for street parking in “high-demand” zones, these spaces are
valued at approximately $9,700 per year as they would still be used for 24/7 exclusive use.
The project team recommends that the City charges valet permits for the opportunity cost of
lost revenue from parking meters. Granted, a metered parking space would not be occupied
throughout the day, so if we assume that a metered space will be used 60% of the time, the
opportunity cost is about $5,800. Hotels and other businesses wishing to operate a valet service
should be charged the opportunity cost of the space. This would encourage businesses to
reconsider the amount of valet parking spaces they need, or to consider creative solutions
such as sharing valet spaces and encouraging customers to park directly in off-street parking
structures. Increasing the cost of these permits would generate additional revenue for the
enterprise fund if hotels continue to desire this type of permit.
Related: Curb Access Equity | Delivery and Freight Loading
Short-Term Medium-Term Long-Term Relative Cost $-$$$

$$$

9 Special-Use / Daily Parking Reservations
Street parking spaces can be reserved in Knoxville for special events, construction, and moving.
Currently, reserving a metered space costs the amount of the hourly rate multiplied by the
length of occupation of the space within normal enforcement hours, with a minimum charge
of $25. Reserving unmetered parking spaces costs $15.00 per day, per space. Government
organizations, non-profit organizations, and contractors working on behalf of the City may be
exempt from paying the costs of reserving spaces. Charging for these reservations is necessary
given the value of Downtown curb space and because the City expends staff time to deploy
signage and manage permit reservations.
Any future changes to metered parking rates should also be built into special-use reservations,
so the City should continue to price reservations based on the meter rate times the length of
parking space occupation. The minimum permit charge should be increased to $40.00 for all
permits. To recover the costs associated with reserving unmetered spaces, Walker recommends
the reservation cost be increased to $20.00 per day, per space.
As an example, a construction company who needs to reserve five metered spaces for three
days, should pay the cost to park in those spaces for all five days since they are preventing other
users from accessing that space, and are not providing a public good. Meanwhile, if a non-profit
desires to operate a parade that requires reserving parking spaces (with proper permits and
permission from the City), they should not be charged as they are providing a significant public
good that the City wishes to encourage.
Related: Curb Access Equity

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
Temporary no parking signs are displayed in preparation for a parade in Downtown Knoxville.
10 Parklet and Outdoor Dining Policy
During the COVID pandemic, businesses and cities around the country realized the value
of expanding the outdoor eating space into the street, using former parking spaces and
calling them parklets. Knoxville has long offered outdoor sidewalk dining permits available for
businesses to purchase. However, it does not currently offer permits for businesses to use and
occupy on-street parking spaces.
Parklets: Public seating

platforms occupying curbside
space in place of street parking.
They can incorporate bike
storage, greenery, and/or
public art. They are often used
by businesses to expand their
outdoor dining space.
Source: NACTO
As Knoxville’s downtown continues to become more popular, businesses may desire

opportunities to expand their dining space into the street using parklets. Walker recommends
the City consider selling these permits after the more immediate recommendations of this
evaluation are rolled out. If the City decides to add this permit category, it should create an
ordinance delineating processes and fees, building codes, and fire safety requirements for
businesses that develop permanent outdoor structures.
Obtaining a permit for providing outdoor dining with parklets should be competitively priced
with other uses. Pricing for these permits should be the same as those charged to valet
operations purchasing an annual permit. Restaurants and cafes that are willing to pay for
such a permit would reasonably take steps to justify their use of purchasing the permit and
make efforts to protect and build on this investment, while it would not unfairly benefit some
restaurants or land-use types over others.
Related: Curb Access Equity | Delivery and Freight Loading | Valet and Annual-Use Permits

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$

11 Parking Benefit Districts
Because parking creates several negative consequences for the surrounding community
such as traffic congestion, air pollution, and less space for other uses of the curb, some cities
implement parking benefit districts to use parking meter revenue to recoup the costs of these
negative activities and return funding back to the affected community through mobility and
streetscape improvements.
The City of Knoxville should consider implementing parking benefit districts (PBDs) in high-
demand areas where revenue generated from metered parking spaces is invested back into the
benefit district for its use, after administrative and operational costs have been paid (additional
set-asides may be needed to support the off-street system). Walker recommends that the City
develop and adopt an ordinance giving authority to Transportation Engineering or another
appropriate department to form parking benefit districts. Rules and regulatory language,
including district boundaries, would likely require City Council approval. The Parking District-
enabling ordinance language should give the overseeing department the authority to disperse
parking meter revenues and revenue from parking violations from within the district to fund
select parking and mobility projects.
Case Study
In 2011, Austin passed an ordinance allowing neighborhood associations to apply for a parking
benefit district designation. The first district, the West Campus PBD, was established in the
neighborhood around the University of Texas, and parking meters were installed on busy
streets. Within its first year, the PBD generated $150,000 and the area generated a 10%
increase in sales tax revenue because of improved access to businesses. 51% of meter revenue
was dedicated to promoting active transportation and reducing vehicle miles traveled.
Over $1 million of revenue from the West Campus PBD has since been invested in sidewalk
improvements, while other PBDs in Austin have focused on recreational trail and park upkeep.
Related: On-Street Parking Pricing | Enterprise Model Structure

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
Map of Parking Benefit

Districts in Austin, TX
Source: Austin Transportation of

Department
12 Off-Street Transient Parking Pricing
Setting off-street parking rates requires balancing the need for an economical parking option
relative to on-street parking with the need to recover the operational expenses associated
with staffing, cleaning, maintenance, and capital repair set-aside. Cities often operate off-
street facilities at a loss and use revenues from on-street operations (where the main cost is
enforcement rather than repair and capital expenses) to cover the difference. All City-owned
public parking structures in Downtown Knoxville currently charge $1.00 per hour, up to a daily
maximum of $7.00. Parking is free nightly between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. and on Saturdays
and Sundays. Additionally, the Langley Garage offers free public parking on weekdays between
6:00 p.m. and 6:00a.m. and on Saturdays and Sundays.
While there is a need to capture more revenue to make the parking system financially self-
sustaining, Walker does not recommend raising hourly and daily transient rates, except at
the Market Square Garage. Maintaining a lower cost to park off-street will influence parking
behavior so that long-term parking customers will choose to park in a structure rather than
leave their vehicle on-street.
Walker recommends that parking structure operating hours should be extended to match
hours of enforcement on-street. This means that all paid public parking facilities should charge
transient parking customers the hourly parking rate (up to the daily max) between 8:00 a.m.
and 10:00 p.m. Parking would still be free between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m., but the
gates should be lowered at all times of the day so that anybody exiting during the free period
would still pay for the duration of time spent during hours when payment is required. This will
likely increase demand for overnight residential permits. The Langley Garage will continue to
offer approximately 650 free parking spaces after 6p.m. and on weekends, which is written in its
deed.
Because there is no variation of rates between different facilities, some facilities are frequently
fully occupied, while others consistently have hundreds of spaces available. Because of its
long history as a parking destination and because there is no difference in rates, the Market
Square Garage is oftentimes the first parking structure that a transient parking customer will
choose. This results in occupancy levels exceeding 90% about 6 or 7 weekdays a month and
most Saturdays. Meanwhile, the larger State Street Garage rarely exceeds 90% occupancy, and
average weekday occupancy is closer to 60%.
To help redistribute this parking demand, Walker recommends pricing a higher parking rate
for transient parkers at the Market Square Garage. An hourly rate of $1.50/hr. at Market Square
Garage would still encourage people to park in the parking structure rather than on the street
but it should encourage some parking customers to go to the State Street Garage or another
lower-cost location. Similar to the other parking structures, it is recommended that transient
rates at the Market Square Garage reach their maximum daily rate after seven hours. However,
it is recommended that the daily maximum at this facility be increased from the current $7.00
to $10.50.
Related: On-Street vs Off-Street Parking Policies | Off-Street Monthly Permit Pricing

$$$
13 Off-Street Monthly Permit Parking Availability
and Pricing
Monthly permits are offered at the City’s public parking structures ranging from $75.00/
month at State Street Garage to $95.00/month at Market Square Garage. Residential monthly
permits are also sold ranging between $45.00/month at State Street Garage to $55.00/month
at Market Square Garage. The City of Knoxville also owns three garages near the Knoxville
Civic Auditorium and Coliseum, which contribute close to 2,300 parking spaces to the supply
of parking around downtown. At a cost of $20.00/month, these spaces are offered at a very
discounted monthly rate compared to other City parking faculties.
As of March 2024, there was a waitlist for monthly parking permits at several parking facilities,
including the Locust Street Garage, Main Avenue Garage, Jackson Avenue Lot, Fort Kid Lot, and
the OP Jenkins Lot. Two limiting factors that should be addressed to potentially increase the
capacity of monthly permits are:
1. Gates are raised at night and on weekends, which limits the operator’s flexibility when
managing permits. It also allows parkers to exit without paying if they arrived before the
free parking period began. Walker recommends keeping the gates lowered 24/7. This will
enable more accurate tracking of parking structure utilization and peak times of activity
for monthly permits, and would provide the City with valuable insights into actual permit
demand and, potentially, opportunities to sell additional permits. Often, more permits can
be sold in a parking facility than there are spaces because all permit holders in a facility are
rarely parked at the same time.
2. Because of special development agreements and contracts, the parking operator has to
reserve spaces in some facilities, even if they are not being used. Review of these contracts is
critical for developing facility-specific operating plans and policies regarding permit sales.
The table below shows the number of reserved parking spaces in each City parking structure,
and the percent of monthly accounts versus unreserved spaces. As discussed above, the
number of monthly permits sold can exceed 100% of the facility inventory since all permit
holders do not park concurrently.
Parking Permits Sold by City Parking Structures (G) and Lots (L)
Monthly Ac-
Unreserved Monthly Ac-
Total Spaces Reserved counts / Unre-
Spaces counts
served Spaces
State St. (G) 1,718 221 1,497 1,101 74%
Locust St. (G) 645 12 633 509 80%
Main Ave. (G) 475 75 400 459 115%
Market Sq. (G) 700 23 677 336 50%
Jackson Ave. 190 - 190 105 55%
(L)
OP Jenkins (L) 38 - 38 18 47%
Fort Kid (L) 76 - 76 55 72%
Source: City of Knoxville, PBA
and Pricing, cont.
It is industry best-practice to sell as many monthly permits as a garage has capacity for, even if
it exceeds 100%. By enabling more parkers to use a single facility, costs are shared among more
users, therefore reducing the need to increase monthly permit prices.
Walker recommends adjusting the monthly parking rates for the Market Square Garage and for
the Coliseum parking structures. Although there is some stratification in rates between Market
Square and State Street Garage already, it is recommended that the monthly permit rate for
Market Square Garage be increased to continue to encourage monthly parking customers to
park in other facilities. This would open up some availability at Market Square Garage for those
willing to pay slightly more for its convenience. Walker recommends increasing the Market
Square Garage’s monthly permit rate to $110.00 and resident permit rate to $65.00. This rate
structure would remain in line with what peer cities are charging and remain more affordable
compared to several private parking facilities in Knoxville.
It is recommended that the City increase the monthly parking rate at the Coliseum parking
structures to $30.00 per month. The City should amplify promotion for monthly parking in
these parking structures, since a $30.00 monthly permit will still be less than half of the cost
of permits in other downtown parking structures. The following table represents current
and proposed monthly parking permit prices for the City’s Downtown and Coliseum parking
structures.
Current and Proposed Monthly Parking Permit Rates
City Parking Number of Resident Recommended Recommended

Monthly Rate
Structures Spaces Monthly Rate Monthly Rate Resident Rate
Market Square
700 $95.00 $55.00 $110.00 $65.00
Garage
State Street
1718 $75.00 $45.00 $75.00 $45.00
Garage
Locust Street
645 $85.00 $50.00 $85.00 $50.00
Garage
Main Avenue
475 $85.00 $50.00 $85.00 $50.00
Garage
City County
850 -- -- -- --
Building Garage
Coliseum A 653 $20.00 -- $30.00 --
Coliseum B 732 $20.00 -- $30.00 --
Coliseum C 897 $20.00 -- $30.00 --
Source: City of Knoxville, PBA

and Pricing, cont.
Based on the project team’s research, these rates are consistent with peer communities,
although they are lower than several private parking facilities in Knoxville (some private parking
facilities charge up to $150.00 for a monthly permit). The following table represents transient
and monthly parking rates charged in peer municipalities.
Peer City Parking Structure Comparison

Number Garage
Garage Garage Weekend/ Garage
of public monthly
City transient transient night monthly
parking resident
rates (hourly) daily max discount permit rates
garages permit rates
County- 2 Free night and

Knoxville City- 4
$1.00 - $2.00 $7.00
weekends
$20 - $95 $40 - $55
Chattanooga 3 $2.00 - $3.00 $8.00 - $11.00 No discount $35 - $70 $35 - $70
Overnight: $65
$2.00 (first - $90
Asheville 4
hour free)
$20.00 No discount $80 - $110
24/7: $100 -
$130
Nights $3.00 -
$6.00 flat rate;
Lexington 4 $2.00 - $4.00 $10.00 - $12.00 Weekends $60 - $90 $60 - $90
$3.00 - $12.00
flat rate
Source: City Websites
In the longer term, the City should consider reducing the discount offered to downtown
residents. Peer communities do not offer a resident discount, although Asheville offers a
“sunset permit” that can be used between 4p.m. and 7a.m. Monday to Friday and all-day on
weekends. Knoxville’s Coliseum parking rates are much lower than peers, and will continue to
offer a large supply of affordable parking even with the recommended rate change.
Note that these rates should be flexible and be responsive to changes to parking demand and
operating costs. Recommendation #15- Future Parking Rate Changes, discusses this policy
need in greater detail.
Related: Off-Street Transient Parking Pricing | Future Parking Rate Changes

$$$
14 Aligning County and City Parking Rates
While City-owned facilities charge $1.00/hr. for transient parking customers, Knox County-
owned facilities charge $2.00/hr. Considering that the County-owned, Dwight Kessel Garage
and Summer Place Garage offer the same (if not less) convenience as nearby City-owned
facilities, this pricing discrepancy does not promote optimal parking utilization and parking
behaviors. The Dwight Kessel Garage is, on average, less than 40% occupied and never
reached above 60% occupancy throughout summer 2023, while the City’s garages experience
higher average occupancies and peak utilizations. The City of Knoxville, Knox County, and the
PBA should work to establish consistent rates across the system to avoid confusion and to
encourage desired parking behaviors.
Related: Off-Street Monthly Permit Pricing | Off-Street Monthly Permit Pricing

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
Dwight Kessel Garage is less centrally-located and is

underutilized, yet has slightly higher parking rates
than City garages.

15 Future Parking Rate Changes
When setting parking rates, several factors need to be considered, including comparing the
rates charged in peer municipalities and private operations within the downtown, the need
to charge higher rates on-street versus in off-street facilities to manage parking behavior,
and the desire to have a parking system that is financially self-supporting. While this report
recommends several immediate rate and policy changes aimed at generating additional
revenue and better managing parking behaviors, future rate changes will also be necessary as
the dynamics of downtown change and as the cost of operating and maintaining the system
grows.
Future rate changes should be made based on data collection and analyses that consider the
potential effects on parking behaviors and the finances of the system. It will be necessary to
regularly consider rate changes in the future as operating expenses grow with inflation, capital
repair needs are discovered, and as supply and demand of private and public parking changes
over the coming years.
Walker recommends that authority to make future rate changes be delegated to the Parking
Division Manager. It is recommended that language be added to the Code of Ordinances
that clarifies the authority and limitations of the Parking Division Manager to approve and
implement future rate changes, such as this language used in Columbus, OH:
“The service director is authorized and directed to make, modify, change from time
to time and promulgate such administrative rules as in the director’s discretion shall
be necessary to effectuate the provisions of this chapter. The service director is hereby
authorized to establish, modify, and change from time to time, regulations which set
forth the days of the week, hours of the day, and intervals of time for which parking is
permissible, and the funds required for parking in individual parking spaces so designated
and marked”.
Related: Organizational Structure | Transparency and Accountability | Enterprise Model

Structure

$$$
16 Special Development Agreements and Contracts
Having historically used parking as a means of economic development for downtown when
it was not the active and vibrant place it is today, the City now has a variety of contracts with
private developers, hotels, churches, and event venues that guarantee below market parking
rates. The following is a sample of the current contractual arrangements:
• HT Hackney, which gets 23 complimentary monthly permits for the State Street Garage,
• Farragut Hotel, which gets 160 discounted monthly permits in a nested part of the State Street Garage
for $32.50/month each,
• Knoxville Chamber, which gets up to 50 complimentary monthly permits for the Market Square
Garage,
• Regal Cinema, which can validate unlimited 3-hour parking sessions at any City parking structure, and
• University of Tennessee, which gets up to 330 spaces at the Locust Street Garage for monthly parking
customers at $56.50 and validations based on the University of Tennessee’s daily rate.
Offering discounted contracts inhibits the flexibility and financial sustainability of the parking
system. As the City and parking demand continues to grow, a flexible parking system will
become even more critical. Offering discounted parking at a fixed rate affects the ability of the
system to change parking rates as needed and limits the number of permits that can be sold
in some facilities. The contract with the University of Tennessee at the Locust Street Garage
does not require advanced notice to the PBA, so the facility can unexpectedly fill up during a
convention center event. This can create ripple effects requiring the PBA to quickly secure other
parking accommodations for their displaces customers. Agreements that include reserved
spaces likely prohibit the PBA from ‘overselling’ those spaces, meaning that the PBA cannot sell
more than one contract for the same space, even if the space won’t be used all the time.
While it is possible for the City to modify the terms of its existing agreements, the Parking
Division Manager should be involved in any future negotiations involving the use of the
City’s parking assets. This will help ensure that the operational and financial impacts to
the system of any proposed agreement are considered before the agreement is executed.
Additionally, the Parking Division Manager should be tasked with reviewing and summarizing
all special development agreements and contracts , noting when they end, when the renewal
period is, what are the responsibilities of the parties involved, whether the contract can be
prematurely ended, and whether the rate is fixed or can be adjusted to market rates. Based
on this contract review, the Parking Division Manager should work with the PBA to solidify a
long-term strategic plan for any future negotiations. This plan should address how contract
renewal and renegotiation would affect the ability to oversell permits for a parking facility
and the impacts on the parking system’s finances. Contracts with private developers and
businesses can be useful for private developers to know that there will be enough parking to
support their development, but future contracts should allow for changes to the parking rates
to be consistent with market rates and avoid placing any limits on the flexibility of parking
management.

16 Special Development Agreements and Contracts,
cont.
Given that the University of Tennessee has permits to use about half of the spaces in the Locust
Street Garage, it is especially prudent to investigate this agreement. Considerations include
whether or not the contract can be renegotiated, whether the University of Tennessee spaces
should be nested (meaning a section of the parking structure would be reserved exclusively for
UT’s contract with gate access), or if it should be sold to the University of Tennessee, or another
entity.
Related: Organizational Structure | Off-Street Monthly Permit Pricing

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
17 Monetize TDOT Lots
Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT)-owned parking lots are located under I-40
and the James White Parkway. While the PBA manages and maintains these facilities, with
the City paying for expenses, the City is not allowed to charge for parking in these lots. Given
that the locations of these lots are adjacent to the upcoming Stadium development, the City
should investigate the potential to sell event or monthly parking. Managing stadium crowds
will require the City to spend additional funding on security, traffic control, and trash collection
for these lots, so determining ways to monetize the lots will help avoid the need to find other
revenue sources to pay for them.
It is recommended that the City charge to park on both TDOT lots to recoup the maintenance
and enforcement costs. Walker recommends charging an event parking rate of $10.00 during
events, concerts, and baseball games at the stadium. Mobile payments should be prioritized,
although it is recommended that the City procure multi-space payment kiosks that can be
placed along the walking paths toward the Stadium and the Old City. Parking enforcement
should regularly moniter payment compliance when payment is required.
Related: Enterprise Model Structure | Stadium District Access and Parking

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
The City should investigate monetizing the TDOT lot next to the new multi-use
stadium and reinvest funding in improved lighting, surfacing, and security.

18 Parking Requirements
Parking minimums or maximums do not currently exist in the DK zoning district. This district
covers most of the downtown study area, including the Old City. Outside of the DK district, off-
street parking maximums and minimums apply to most land uses. Fort Sanders has a mix of
residential, office, and institutional zoning districts, so the City’s parking requirements do apply
in those zones. Parking requirements can be reduced by up to 30% within a quarter-mile of a
transit route. In addition to vehicle parking requirements, bicycle parking must be provided
wherever parking is required or provided. Four bike parking spaces must be provided for every
land use that requires less than 50 vehicle parking spaces, then four additional bike stalls are
required for every additional 50 required vehicle spaces.
Walker recommends that in the short to medium-term, the City maintain the DK district’s
status quo without requiring parking minimums or maximums. Given the opportunities for
shared parking, maximizing parking structure utilization, and promoting a higher parking
utilization of the Coliseum parking structures, the City should focus on maximizing the use of
the existing parking supply rather than on requiring more parking. Most peer cities, including
Asheville, NC; Chattanooga, TN; Durham, NC; Johnson City, TN; and Lexington, KY; have also
either eliminated downtown parking requirements or implemented downtown parking
maximums. Nationally, hundreds of cities have recently repealed their downtown or citywide
parking requirements given the underutilization of existing parking infrastructure, a desire to
reduce vehicle congestion and greenhouse gasses, and the potential to reduce housing costs
by permitting lower-parking multifamily developments.
The more parking that is built downtown, the more vehicle traffic will be generated. Given
the projected downtown employment and population growth over the coming years, it is
recommended that the City continue to invest in public transportation and micromobility
transportation options. The City should continue to coordinate transportation demand
management (TDM) efforts with the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization.
In the long-term, the City may need to reconsider its parking requirements. If reinstating
downtown parking requirements is considered, then the City should conduct a study of how
much parking is actually used for each land use, and allow flexibility for developments that
incentivize multi-modal trips, such as developments that offer free transit passes to residents,
offer on-site bikeshare stations, or which have dedicated on-site space for carshare and
rideshare services.
The City of Knoxville should consider implementing an optional fee in-lieu-of parking for new
developments in Fort Sanders and in areas within a one-half-mile radius of a transit stop, with
the program’s revenue dedicated to increased transit service, station improvements, and
first-last mile microtransit connections (i.e. bikeshare, bike lockers, sidewalk improvement).
Feasibility may depend on state law prohibitions and regulations on the use of impact fees.
18 Parking Requirements
Downtown Zoning Designations
Source: KGIS
Related: Parking Benefit Districts

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$

19 Coordinated Policy for Private Parking Supply
There are a number of private surface lots and parking structures in Downtown and Fort
Sanders. The City of Knoxville should coordinate with private parking owners and operators to
list their facilities as part of a Knoxville database. The Downtown Knoxville Alliance already posts
a map showing both public and private parking lots and parking structures on their website,
which could be integrated or linked with the City’s parking website.
Working with the PBA, the City of Knoxville should offer contracts to manage private parking
lots in high-demand areas. Contracts should address liability, responsibilities of the parties,
maintenance, and ability to change parking rates. Having more control over the overall parking
supply would increase the effectiveness of the City’s parking policies and rates, and contribute
to a positive overall brand that has many different parking options to choose from.
Regular coordination with private parking operators and owners would help the Parking
Division Manager understand upcoming changes in the private parking supply, which affects
the demand for public parking facilities. Greater communication between public and private
parking operators is critical as the City gains more eventgoers, daily visitors, and downtown
residents while reducing the physical impact of parking on its urban geography.
Related: Organization Structure | System Management and Oversight

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
Unused private parking lots could be considered for shared parking

and coordination.
20 Stadium District Access and Parking
In 2025, the new multi-use stadium being built in the Old City area of Downtown Knoxville will
be complete. The 7,000-seat stadium, which will be home to a minor-league baseball team, will
have no on-site parking. A parking study was undertaken during the stadium planning process
and found that there is adequate parking available surrounding the Stadium. As a result, the
Stadium was approved as a planned unit development and will not provide additional parking
for stadium visitors, but will instead rely on existing surface parking lots to the north and in
public parking structures.
Some downtown stakeholders are concerned that there will not be enough conveniently
located parking and that fans will not want to walk to transit stops to get to available spaces
at the State Street Garage or the Coliseum. Fans will have to walk to the Stadium from these
facilities along greenways, take a bus, or use rideshare services. The Stadium is about a 0.6-mile
walk from the State Street Garage, which is a shorter walking distance than walking from one
end of the West Town Mall to the other end and back. Still, this distance could be more difficult
for families with young children, elderly visitors, and other visitors with limited mobility. Existing
plans addressing these concerns include utilizing KAT’s Downtown Connector, which will have
12-minute headways between the Coliseum parking structures and Old City. There may be
opportunities for higher frequencies during events, especially if the parking system and KAT
can coordinate to fund higher bus frequencies.
There are opportunities to use existing parking lots surrounding the stadium for event parking.
As seen on the map on the following page, there are several City-owned properties north of the
Stadium that can be marketed and used as event parking. A planned greenway will connect
there lots with the stadium. As discussed in the previous section, a shared parking policy would
enable the City or PBA to contract with privately owned surface parking lots in the areas north
of the stadium and in Old City to manage their parking on event days. Since events typically
occur in the evenings and weekends, there should be many available private parking spaces.
The surface parking lot owner would receive a portion of the proceeds.
Additionally, Section 11.3-D of the City’s Code prohibits parking on front and side yards except
for houses within a 2-mile radius of Neyland Stadium and a one-mile radius of the Chilhowee
Park and Exposition Center during events. Walker recommends that this section be amended
to include a one-mile radius around the Stadium to permit homeowners to sell parking on their
front yards on event days. Increased parking enforcement will be needed in the area during
events to monitor and cite any illegal parking activities.
Investing in a quality loading zone for busses and rideshare operators can improve the overall
stadium experience. This should include signage about where passenger pick-ups will occur
for different transit lines and shuttles, real-time transit availability information, and a nearby
waiting area for rideshare drivers. Policies should be developed regarding how long a vehicle
can idle while waiting to pick up passengers, where private bus operators are permitted to
drop-off, and how pick-up/drop-off areas will be enforced. The City should determine and
designate oversized vehicle parking spaces within a City parking lot for shuttle and bus staging
during gameday events.

20 Stadium District Access and Parking, cont.
Concept Plan of First Creek Greenway around the Stadium District
Related: Event Parking Coordination | Monetize TDOT Lots | Parking Requirements

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
21 Civic Auditorium and Coliseum Parking
The Civic Auditorium and Coliseum is located just across the James White Parkway from the
downtown core. With a 5,000-seat arena in the Coliseum and 2,500 seats in the Auditorium,
the event facility brings in both regional and national acts and conventions and is home to the
Knoxville Ice Bears hockey team. There are three parking structures on the site (A, B, and C) with
about 2,300 total parking spaces. ASM, which operates the Coliseum, also manages the three
Coliseum parking structures on behalf of the City. It charges $10.00 for event parking (including
University of Tennessee Football game days), $65.00 per night for recreational vehicle parking,
$5.00 for non-event daily parking, and $20.00 for monthly parking permits. Payments are
cashless with prepayment options when purchasing tickets.
Occupancy in the parking structures varies based on whether an event is occurring. Despite
low monthly parking rates, relatively few parking permits are sold for these garages. This may
be a result of the perceived distance from the downtown core with the James White Parkway
barrier, because permits cannot be easily purchased online, and/or because spaces are not
held for parking permit-holders during events. The parking structures are completely occupied
approximately 16-20 times per season and reach 90% occupancy 45 to 55 times per season. This
means that the parking structures reach effective capacity (90% or higher occupancy) one or
two times a week during the event season, which occurs between August and May each year.
Of the 2,282 parking stalls at the Coliseum, there are currently only approximately 190 market-
rate parking permits sold (not including permits used by ASM staff, KID staff, and City of
Knoxville staff). This is approximately 8%, meaning that there is availability to sell significantly
more permits at this facility. Because events at the Knoxville Convention Center primarily occur
in the evenings, there would be minimal interference of increasing permits sold and needing
to reserve space for event parkers. Most permit-holders exit before 6pm, when event parking
demand begins to peak.
With the increased demand for parking from the Stadium and the need for a more coordinated
and sophisticated parking system, we recommend contracting directly with the PBA to operate
the three Coliseum parking structures instead of ASM. This will enable the PBA and the City
to better coordinate event parking between the Coliseum, the University of Tennessee, the
multi-use stadium, and the Convention Center, as well as provide a single source for managing
monthly parking permits. The City Event Parking Coordinator would assist communication and
coordination with these various entities so the City and PBA can effectively plan for the parking
demand and traffic generated by these large events.
As the City increases marketing efforts for selling permits in the Coliseum parking structures,
it should consider how to add micromobility, such as shared bikes and scooters, around the
Coliseum to improve its connection to downtown and the multi-use stadium.
Related: Event Planning Coordination | System Management and Oversight | Stadium District
Access and Parking

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$

22 Jackson Avenue Lot Redevelopment
Currently, the primary public parking facility in Knoxville’s Old City is the 190-space
Jackson Avenue Parking Lot. There is a high likelihood that this lot will be taken offline for
redevelopment as part of the McClung Warehouse redevelopment plan, which will be a mixed-
use site including a potential greenway connection. Nearby businesses in the Old City have
expressed concern regarding parking options for their patrons, especially given expected
new parking demand from the nearby multi-use stadium. Because the site is part of a
redevelopment plan, it is subject to city planning review, so the City can require on-site parking
to replace at least a portion of the parking spaces which were taken offline. Given the desire for
accessible parking to support the many local businesses in the Old City and the need to avoid
expensive capital projects, we recommend the City supports developing replacement parking
through a public-private partnership (P3).
Under a public-private partnership, a municipality engages a private-sector company to provide

all or some aspects to of the design, building, financing, and operations of the new parking. The
municipality typically gets an up-front lump sum payment in exchange for conceding rights to
a portion of revenues generated from the facility. With this model, the City can retain oversight
of parking in this area without the burden of taking on debt to finance the project. The financial
feasibility of the project should be assessed to determine if the project can be revenue-neutral
through charging user fees. Specific terms, length of agreement, and parking rates can all be
negotiated up-front and included in the agreement. A P3 project requires strong leadership
and project management to ensure the project is completed as desired by the City and as the
P3 agreement specifies.
While the site is under construction, signage, marketing, and education will be critical to inform
business employees and patrons about nearby parking options. The State Street Garage is the
nearest public parking facility to businesses in the Old City, so wayfinding improvements along
the walking path toward Old City should be implemented ahead of any potential closure of the
Jackson Avenue Lot.
Related: Parking Requirements | System Management and Oversight

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
The Noah Hillman Garage

in Annapolis, MD, was
built and financed as
part of a public-private
partnership. Annapolis
used an up-front lump
sum payment for
waterfront infrastructure
upgrades.
• Implement on-street parking rate
changes, including eliminating time
limits and extending enforcement hours
• Amend parking citations and fine
schedules
• Modify permit, valet, and temporary use
of curb space policies
• Implement off-street transient and
monthly permit rate changes Medium-Term Focus
• Align City and County parking rates • Develop policies around curb access
• Review and renegotiate special equity, including reviewing policies
development agreements and contracts around passenger loading, delivery and
freight loading
• Develop policies and plans to support
multi-use stadium • Expand Stop’n’Go parking spaces
Long-Term/Ongoing Focus
• Public-private partnership to contribute • Implement parking benefit districts
parking at McClung Warehouse site • Coordinate policies with private parking • Consider opportunities to expand bike
lots and pedestrian infrastructure and pop-
up uses
• Contract management of Coliseum
parking supply with PBA • Regularly conduct parking rate change
evaluations
• Investigate feasibility of parking
reduction bonuses and fee in-lieu-of
parking
• Instigate monetizing additional parking
facilities
• Utilize data to continue driving and
redeveloping policy around rate
changes, parking supply, and curb use
• Evaluate parking need associated
with changes to downtown built
environment

Operations and Technology
INTRODUCTION Operations Quick Access Links:
The recommendations in the Parking 3. Parking Structure Maintenance and

Operations and Technology section are Repair Planning
intended to support the Parking Policy
recommendations offered in the previous 4. Mobile Payments
section. Improving efficiencies in revenue
collection, asset maintenance, enforcement
5. Pay-by-Plate Enforcement
practices, and data collection will support
the overall goals and mission of the parking
6. Monthly Parking Payment Reservation
enterprise. Updating technology on a regular
Process
basis is necessary to offer excellent customer
service, collect appropriate data, support
new payment methods, and ensure that all 7. Monthly Parking Permit Management
systems remain compatible with each other.
Even with updated technologies, technology- 8. Procure Parking System Management
savvy personnel are crucial for analyzing data, Software
understanding trends, and making informed
decisions. Efficient operations allow staff to 9. On-Street Reservation Management
extend their capabilities and avoid performing
redundant tasks. 10. Citation Payment Compliance
Operations Quick Access Links: 11.. Automate Processes
1. Cashless Operation 12. Parking Structure Staffing and

Automation
2. Asset-Lite Approach
13. PARCS Upgrades
1 Cashless Operation
Bank fees are a significant cost of on-street operations. In FY 2023, the City of Knoxville spent
approximately $119,000 on bank fees associated with processing cash and coins, which equates
to approximately 13% of all meter system operating expenses. Over the past several years, the
City has been engaged in the ongoing replacement of its legacy coin-only, single-space meters
with newer meters that accept coins and credit cards. By October 2023, 48% of transactions
were made with credit cards, and 75% of meter revenue came from credit cards. The average
credit card transaction amount was more than three times the average coin transaction, with
the average coin transaction at $0.68 and the average credit card transaction at $2.30.
Of the three full-time parking services staff in the Transportation Engineering department,
a staff rotation is used so that one person is responsible for counting cash for their rotation
and another is responsible for collecting cash from single-space meters- meaning that
approximately two-thirds of division staff time (excluding the division leader) is dedicated to
handling cash. The division manager informed the project team that its cash counting machine
is outdated, which may contribute to the significant staff time allocated to counting money.
Rather than procure a new counting machine, the City should investigate how it can remove
cash from its operations.
As part of the process of removing cash from normal operations, it is recommended that the
first step is to offer other forms of payment methods, especially mobile payments. Next, parking
structure PARCS (Parking Access and Revenue Control System) equipment should be upgraded
so that cashiers are no longer needed to staff exit lanes during normal (non-event) operations.
PARCS should only accept credit cards or mobile payments. If the City wishes to keep some
cash acceptance, then it should procure pay-on-foot machines where people can pay cash
when walking back to their vehicle. This would expedite traffic flow in exit lanes, especially
during busy events. Finally, it is recommended that the on-street metered parking environment
can transition to an asset-lite model where single-space meters are replaced with multi-space
meters that accept cards only. For unbanked individuals, reloadable parking cards could be
offered and sold at locations like Knoxville Transit Center, the Knoxville Chamber, and the
City-County Building. Removing cash from the City’s parking operation would save staff time,
reduce bank fee expenses, reduce risk of fraud and liability, and improve the customer parking
experience. The following recommendations in this section align with the approach toward
becoming a cashless operation.
Related: Mobile Payment | Asset-Lite Approach | Garage Staffing and Automation

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$

2 Asset-Lite Approach
The existing on-street parking environment consists of hundreds of single-space meters.
The Transportation Engineering department collects coins from these meters twice a week,
regularly maintains the meters, and bags the meters for special events. There is significant staff
time associated with these tasks. The PBA enforcement team has to manually check that each
vehicle occupying a parking space has paid for each meter, which limits the area that each
enforcement officer can cover per hour.
An asset-lite approach to the on-street parking environment would consist of removing single-
space meter heads. These would be replaced with multispace meters in the “high-demand”
zones. Walker recommends that the City procure ‘pay-by-plate’ meters, such that when a
parking customer uses a multi-space meter, they first enter their license plate number, select
the amount of time they want, and then pay. There is typically one multispace meter located
per blockface. In the “low-demand” zones, meters should be removed altogether and all
payments take place through a mobile app. A few multispace meters could be strategically
placed near the Fort Sanders Hospital for nearby streets.
The benefits of this approach are that there are fewer overall machines to maintain, and there
is a lower risk that replacement parts will become obsolete. Revenue collection would be
more efficient with fewer meters to collect cash from. While there is a higher up-front cost to
replace the meters, the cost-savings benefits will save money over the long term. Enforcement
could use license-plate-recognition software that can read license plates and automatically
connect to a back-end database that shows whether the parking customer paid for a valid
parking session using a multi-space meter or mobile app. Implementation must go along
with a marketing effort and education campaign. During the first two months of deployment,
enforcement could issue warnings for any first-time meter violations.
Related: Mobile Payments | Parking Citations and Fines | On-Street Parking Pricing | ‘Pay-by-
Plate’ Enforcement | Automate Processes

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
3 Parking Structure Maintenance and Repair
Planning
Parking structure maintenance can be thought of in four operational buckets: housekeeping,
operational maintenance, preventative maintenance, and repairs. Housekeeping is about
general cleaning and maintenance of a facility, with daily or weekly tasks like emptying trash,
cleaning lobby and elevator areas, maintaining grounds, and snow removal; and monthly or
semiannual tasks like washing windows, power-washing floors, painting, and replacing lights
as needed. Operational maintenance focuses on repairing or replacing electrical systems,
elevators, heating, ventilation, and cooling systems, fire protection, pipe pressure testing, doors,
and PARCS equipment. Preventative maintenance includes taking action to extend the life of a
facility before major repairs are needed, such as sealing restraint cracks, replacing joint sealants,
reapplying sealer to floor surfaces, recoating traffic topping to maintain slip resistance, replacing
expansion joints, regularly inspecting for leaks, and structural steel painting. Finally, repairs
are about fixing existing hazards and damages to the structure such as fixing trip hazards,
replacing loose or spalled concrete, fixing masonry joint cracks, and post-tension repairs.
An asset management plan is a critical document that is used to effectively plan and budget
for each maintenance and repair bucket. Maintenance and repair schedules are included
in asset management plans, so that repairs can be planned for in advance and budgeted
for through a comprehensive Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). Through interviews and
requests for information from the City and PBA, it was discovered that asset management
plans and CIPs do not exist for the City’s parking facilities resulting in expanded and ongoing
deferred maintenance. When repair needs are discovered, these needs may not be effectively
communicated between the PBA, the City’s Policy Department, and the Finance Department.
Instead, capital repairs and improvements are budgeted for on an annual as-needed basis.
Without asset management plans, damage to parking structures can accumulate until very
expensive repairs are needed to ensure the structures remain safe and accessible. An asset
management plan allows for long-term financial and operational planning so that preventative
maintenance can be implemented to extend the life of the asset. This allows the City to save
money over time by avoiding expensive accelerated deterioration, as shown in the graphic
below.
A financially self-sustaining parking system will help to advance long-term planning of asset
maintenance. Likewise, a comprehensive asset management plan will assist the Parking
Division Manager to determine whether parking rate changes are necessary to financially
support the parking system.
A qualified professional engineering firm should be hired to perform condition assessments

for each off-street facility to determine long-term repair and maintenance needs and develop
facility-by-facility asset management plans for the next 5-10 years. Assessments of the facilities
should be conducted every 3-5 years. Capital Improvement Plans should also include plans to
update PARCS equipment, on-street meter and enforcement technology, and other capital
assets. A comprehensive list of all capital needs for the next 5-10 years will assist the Parking
Division Manager in determining whether rate changes are necessary to ensure the parking
system remains financially sustainable.

3 Parking Structure Maintenance and Repair
Planning, cont.
Parking Asset Management Scenarios
Source: Walker Consultants
Early and consistent maintenance can significantly extend the life of a parking asset. Delaying
preventative maintenance can cause more extensive damage and higher costs to repair in
the future. The above graphic shows three scenarios. Line A shows the lifespan of a parking
structure without consistent maintenance and repair. In the scenario shown on Line B, a major
capital repair is made to extend the life of an asset, but deterioration still accumulates. Under
the Line C scenario, parking structures are maintained according to an asset management plan
with consistent maintenance performed throughout the life of an asset.
Related: Capital Budgeting | Enterprise Model Structure | Asset-Lite Approach | PARCS

Upgrades

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
4 Mobile Payments
The City of Knoxville does not currently have any agreements with mobile payment vendors
to offer mobile payment options such as apps, QR codes, and text payments. In a college town
with a significant high-tech industry base, there are many tech-savvy users who are just as likely
to pay with their phones as with a credit card. Most mobile payment vendors do not charge
the municipality to operate, but instead make their profit from charging users approximately
$0.25 to $0.40 per transaction. Therefore, there is little cost associated with the City contracting
with a mobile payment vendor and significant upsides like reaching out to a larger network of
potential users, making the system more user-friendly, and reducing cash transactions.
The City can select one or more mobile payment vendors to contract with. Typically, the
most effective vendors are ones that are already present on private surface parking lots or
in other municipalities in the eastern Tennessee region. The City of Pittsburgh, for example,
contracts with four mobile payment vendors because they do not find significant additional
administrative oversight required to offer more than one payment solution, and it offers more
options for customers coming from various regions. Signage, branding, and marketing must go
along with mobile payment deployment for a successful launch.
Related: On-Street Parking Pricing | ‘Pay-by-Plate’ Enforcement | Automate Processes | Online

Parking Information

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
Most cities of Knoxville’s size offer at least one mobile payment

option for public parking.

5 ‘Pay-by-Plate’ Enforcement
Enforcement of on-street parking meters in Downtown and Fort Sanders is handled by the
PBA’s Security Division, which has 18 positions when fully staffed. The paid downtown parking
area is broken into four enforcement zones, which are patrolled on foot. Paid parking in Fort
Sanders is a fifth zone which is enforced by the use of a vehicle. Currently, the PBA uses Watson
Systems for enforcement, which is primarily used by police departments for traffic violations,
and it is integrated with the Knoxville municipal court system.
According to PBA’s Security Division supervisor, there is a public perception that enforcement
will not capture parking customers who do not pay the meters. In the current single-space
meter environment, parking enforcement staff must check each vehicle and each meter for
proof of payment, which slows down staff and reduces the number of vehicles and radius
that can be enforced within a given time period. This also limits data that can be collected to
influence future policymaking based on where and when violations frequently occur.
In synchronization with moving towards an ‘asset-lite’ approach for maintaining the on-street
technology environment, Walker recommends parking enforcement use a ‘pay-by-plate’
approach. In a ‘pay-by-plate’ approach, parking enforcement staff would use LPR software
connected to a back-end database which can immediately validate whether a vehicle
has a paid parking session. Using handheld devices or vehicle-mounted devices, parking
enforcement staff would walk or drive down a street and scan license plates while the LPR
application is able to inform the officer if the vehicle has either paid using the meter or paid
using a mobile application. This enforcement practice has become standard practice over the
past decade, and several private parking vendors in Knoxville already use LPR to enforce their
parking lots.
In addition to enforcing parking meters, LPR would also improve the PBA’s efficiency when
enforcing surface parking lots and time limits. Currently, the PBA’s Security Division does not
actively enforce surface parking lots, several of which are monthly permit-parking only. Instead,
the PBA’s Parking Services division checks for permits and calls the PBA Security Division
to enforce if a hangtag permit is not found on the vehicle. Under a ‘pay-by-plate approach,
monthly parking customers would register their license plate into a permit system, and the
Security Division could easily drive through a lot and check if the license plates of parked
vehicles are associated with a valid parking permit. Deploying LPR enforcement and multispace
meters would enable the City to offer paid hourly parking in some of its current permit-only lots.
LPR enforcement enables more efficient and consistent parking enforcement. It interacts with
other softwares to expedite citation tracking and compliance.
5 ‘Pay-by-Plate’ Enforcement, cont.
Note that moving to an LPR- based pay-by-plate enforcement system in Knoxville should occur
alongside deployment of a mobile payment option and/or multi-space parking meters. The
following steps identify a procedure for implementing LPR enforcement and transitioning to a
‘pay-by-plate’ approach:
1. Determine type of mobile LPR desired- handheld or mounted LPR, or a combination of both.
Handheld LPR devices can be used for officers on foot, and mounted LPR devices are affixed
to a parking vehicle. Then determine how many units will be needed.
2. Explore the capabilities of Watson to be integrated with LPR devices. If it can be integrated,
Watson would act as the backend database and ‘source of truth’ to determine if parking
sessions are valid.
3. Evaluate technology vendors that offer integrated parking management system software,
inclusive of backend software for LPR enforcement, a citation management system, a virtual
permit management system, and an online portal for customer use.
a. There are a variety of technology providers within the parking industry that can provide
the desired parking management system. Some vendors can work with municipalities to
offer custom integrations if needed.
b. As an organization, in collaboration with City information technology (IT) staff, compare

costs, limitations, and compatibility of various softwares and technologies and determine
desired comprehensive software package and vendor.
c. Source the desired LPR units and parking management system software.
4. Install and deploy LPR units, backend parking management software, citation management
system, and virtual permit management system.
5. Promote new technology online and through press releases so that parking customers are
aware of new enforcement practices.
Related: Mobile Payments | Parking Citations and Fines | Automate Processes | Monthly
Permit Management | On-Street Reservations

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$

6 Monthly Parking Reservation Process
Currently, downtown business owners, employees, and residents who wish to obtain a monthly
parking permit are instructed to submit a request on the PBA’s website. The image below
shows this “request parking” homepage. Note that a permit prices are not discplayed here, so
customers must exit this tab and return to the “Rates” tab to find cost information. There is no
indication on the PBA’s website about whether a facility has any remaining monthly permit
capacity, or how long the waitlist is for each facility that is at capacity. This may lead to confusion
and uncertainty about parking options for potential customers. The project team observed a
disconnect between actual permit availability according to the PBA and a public perception
among residents and businesses that parking permits are not available. This unintended lack of
transparency in the parking permit reservation system could explain the disconnect.
The PBA’s parking permit reservation website should be updated to a more customer-oriented
format to include information about the cost and availability of each parking facility on the
“request parking” homepage. Furthermore, the terms of the online parking agreement last
updated in July 2016 should be reviewed to ensure the most up-to-date terms have been
disclosed. The agreement includes the Promenade Garage but not the Summer Place Garage
as available parking facilities. The parking agreement that a person signs when requesting a
monthly parking permit should be regularly reviewed by the PBA to check for accuracy. The
new Parking Division Manager should consider acting like a secret shopper and occasionally
go through the process of obtaining a parking permit to check how long it takes to receive
approval and that all information is consistent.
Related: Transparency and Accountability | ‘Pay-by-Plate’ Enforcement | Monthly Permit

Management | Automate Processes

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
7 Monthly Parking Permit Management
Currently, once a monthly parking permit is acquired, monthly parking customers at the six
downtown public parking structures are issued a proximity (prox) card granting access in and
out of the parking structures during business hours. After business hours, parking control gates
are raised, so there is no need for prox card use. Lost prox cards are subject to a $10 replacement
fee. The monthly parking agreement terms state that prox cards may not be shared between
vehicles. Payment is due on the 1st of each month, and prox cards are turned off on the 6th of
each month. Accounts more than 30 days late are terminated.
Permit parking customers using the PBA’s gateless surface parking lots are currently issued
rearview mirror hangtags for their vehicles. In the existing gateless surface parking lots, monthly
parking customers enter the parking lot, ensure that their hangtag is displayed properly, park
their vehicle, and exit the facility on foot. Parking enforcement officers cite vehicles for improper
hangtag display or invalid parking in permit-only facilities.
Rather than using prox cards and hangtags as monthly parking credentials, the City should
transition towards a digital approach where permit information is attached to a monthly
parking customer’s license plate. Attaching registration information to a license plate would
eliminate improper use of hangtag permits, which have the potential to be replicated or re-
used.
Fixed LPR cameras in parking structures would be able to scan license plates and automatically
raise parking control gates for valid parking permits. The PBA would have greater control over
its parking structure use since the parking permit is always attached to the vehicle inside of the
parking facilities, rather than remaining on the parking customer. Customers would benefit by
not having to carry a prox card with them and risk losing it. Fixed LPR would reduce the time
it takes for vehicles to enter and exit parking structures and avoid backups, saving time and
making parking easier for all customers.
Related: ‘Pay-by-Plate’ Enforcement | Automate Processes | PARCS Upgrades

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
8 Procure Parking System Management Software

The PBA is not using parking-specific technology for enforcement or to manage permits on-
street and in gateless surface parking lots. This makes identifying permit-holders and making
changes to permits a much more manual and elongated task.
The City should procure an integrated parking system management software that is capable of
the following tasks:
• Virtual permitting and management of permit purchases and renewals,
• Enforcement of mobile payments and pay-by-plate kiosks,
• Digital chalking,

8 Procure Parking System Management Software, cont.
• Managing citation disputes, adjudication, payment collections, and scofflaw notifications,
• Data management, analytics, and GIS-integration,
• Connection to mobile LPR devices,
• Offers online customer portal for customers to view and manage virtual permits and citations.
The City needs to consider whether the citation management system software is compatible
with Watson, which is currently used by the PBA and would likely still be used by the Knoxville
Police Department, and how the software integrates with existing City IT infrastructure.
Discussions with the PBA, Police Department, and Information Systems Division should occur
when developing an RFP to procure parking management software and during the evaluation
process.
Related: ‘Pay-by-Plate’ Enforcement | Special-Use Reservations | Automate Processes

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
9 On-Street Reservation Management

Reservation applications for on-street parking spaces currently must be sent to the
Transportation Engineering Division a minimum of four (4) working days prior to the date of
the request. If the application is approved, the Parking Systems staff and/or Sign and Marketing
staff will then place “Temporary No Parking” signs up 24 hours in advance. Printed paper
permits are issued to registered vehicles like move-in trucks that have reserved parking spaces.
Currently, on-street reservations are managed in an Excel database by the City’s parking
services divions of the Transportation Engineering department. This makes it difficult to share
reservations and calendars with the PBA parking enforcement team.
The City should retire the use of physical permit displays and move to a digital tag that is
associated with a vehicle’s license plate. When registering for a parking permit, the applicant
would include the license plate of the vehicle. The PBA, Police Department, and Transportation
Engineering would have access to registered plates through a virtual parking permit
management software and could use this information to more effectively enforce the busy on-
street environment.
Related: ‘Pay-by-Plate’ Enforcement | Special-Use Reservations | Automate Processes

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
10 Citation Payment Compliance
The City’s ability to use its governing power to ensure that citations are paid is slightly
hampered by state laws that restrict the ability to immobilize vehicles, requiring the release
of vehicles from impoundment after the tow fee is paid (even if the parking fee has not been
paid). Walker understands that immobilizing or towing vehicles is generally avoided as much
as possible, but it is typically used as a last resort for municipalities to ensure compliance with
parking rules and regulations.
In addition to using the Municipal Court to promote compliance, the City should also work with
private collections agencies to ensure compliance with parking rules and regulations. There
are two options to improve collections. First, the City could investigate working directly with a
private third party that issues letters and communications to people with outstanding parking
fees. These companies then share a portion of ticket proceeds with the parking operator or
municipality. Second, if the City successfully procures parking management software and
citation management software, then the software vendor may be incentivized to contract with
collections agencies to collect outstanding citation payments because they often receive a
share of proceeds that were paid using their citation payment platform.
Related: Parking Citations and Fines

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
11 Automate Processes
Several forms and applications used in the operations of the parking system are not currently
available to be completed online. For example, acquiring a monthly parking permit for one
of the Coliseum parking structures requires calling the facility, as no online parking permit
request portal exists. Requesting a special-use on-street permit requires filling out a physical
application. Similarly, requesting a residential parking permit for the City’s pilot program on
Phillips Avenue requires completing a physical application.
To the extent possible, online portals should be created to allow citizens to request parking
permits. Moving away from paper forms and manual processes will increase the efficiency
of the parking operator, regardless of whether it is the Coliseum, PBA, or Transportation
Engineering. Online portals will allow for automatic routing of requests to the appropriate
department and employee. Online portals for the identified gaps should be included when
procuring virtual permit management software.
Related: Asset-Lite Approach | Monthly Permit Reservation Process | Online Parking

Information
Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
12 Parking Structure Staffing and Automation
The PBA’s staffing schedule for the four City and two County parking structures provides for
21 full-time employees and 3 part-time employees. This includes 20 employees assigned to a
facility, one (1) floating evening attendant supervisor, and three (3) office positions. Three of
the full-time positions are currently vacant. Attendant positions include lead attendant, booth
attendant, and floating booth attendant.
PBA has a separate custodial team that is responsible for parking structure sweeping, cleaning,
and general day-to-day maintenance of facilities. Additionally, PBA’s Security Division is
responsible for monitoring cameras, responding to incidents reported at public facilities, and
regularly patrolling the Market Square Garage, State Street Garage, Locust Street Garage, and
Riverwalk Garage. Since other staff are responsible for maintenance and security, parking
staff are primarily responsible for collecting payments when vehicles are exiting the parking
structures. Each structure has between one and two daytime attendants and between one and
three evening attendants.
There are opportunities to use automated PARCS equipment to reduce the need for staffing
booth attendants. Modern PARCS can handle payment and exiting for monthly, transient, and
validated parking customers without a need for an attendant to be present. Using automated
equipment reduces the risk of any potential fraudulent activities related to handling cash and
machine-dispensed parking tickets, and generates data points which could be used in future
decision-making.
Monitoring and parking attendant roles should be re-assigned into one or two floating positions
during the daytime where employees are both monitoring cameras and periodically patrolling
the parking structures, as well as assisting parking customers with any issues when exiting
the facility. Attendants would not collect machine-dispensed parking ticket payments but
could assist with answering questions and identifying any issues with the automated PARCS
technology. One exit lane attendant may be needed to staff an exit lane booth during the peak
exit hour between 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at some parking structures.. After 6:30 p.m., parking
structures can be completely automated, with PBA doing routine security checks throughout
the evening. PARCS vendors offer remote monitoring services for any questions or concerns
about paying using the automated PARCS when the parking structure is unstaffed.
Related: Cashless Operation

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
12 PARCS Upgrades
Existing Parking Access and Revenue Control System (PARCS) equipment in the four City-
owned parking structures is seven to nine years old. Typically, PARCS equipment has a ten-year
useful lifespan due to normal wear and tear and becoming obsolete as newer technology enters
the market. There are 18 total entry/exit lanes between the four parking structures. Typically, the
cost of obtaining PARCS hardware and installation is $45,000 to $50,000 per entry/exit lane, so
the total upgrade for the four structures with 18 total entry/exit lanes will cost approximately
$800,000 to $900,000, depending on desired models and difficulty of installation. The cost to
include fixed-LPR in the lanes may be higher. This report recommends that PARCS upgrades
be included in the Capital Improvement Plan and that upgrades be completed by the by the
2028 fiscal year.
Related: ‘Pay-by-Plate’ Enforcement | Automate Processes

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
PARCS equipment must be upgraded on a regular basis as software changes and equipment
becomes obsolete.

• Adopt policy and goals to become a
cashless and asset-lite operation
• Contract with vendor to offer mobile
app an/or text-to-pay
• Remove single-space meters and
replace wil multispace ‘pay-by-plate’
meters
• Develop facility-level asset management
plans and a comprehensive capital Medium-Term Focus
improvement plan
• Reassign staff from cash-handling to
• Enforce parking sessions and permits assistance and security-oriented roles
using license-plate recognition.
• Procure LPR devices, integrated parking
system management software, citation
management and virtual permit Long-Term/Ongoing Focus
management software.
• Upgrade parking access and revenue
• Automate parking tasks with online control (PARCS) equipment
portals
• Continue proactive and preventative
maintenance of parking facilities
• Adequately budget for regular updates
to equipment, software, wayfinding, and
aesthetic improvements

Communications, Branding,
Wayfinding
INTRODUCTION Communications, Branding, Wayfinding

Parking is typically the first and last Quick Access Links:
experience that a visitor or worker must deal
with when arriving to Downtown Knoxville 1. Consistent Brand Development
or Fort Sanders. In fact, for many visitors, the
experience begins before they even leave 2. Online Parking Information
their homes, as they are looking for parking
information online for when they arrive. Upon 3. Parking-Related Communications and
entering the downtown core, parkers look Marketing Campaign
for identifiable signage to direct them to
affordable and convenient parking locations 4. On-Street Parking Information Signage
close to their destination. After parking their
vehicle, parkers desire quality signage and 5. Off-Street Parking Wayfinding Signage
wayfinding directing them out of the garage
and toward their final destinations. 6. Pedestrian Wayfinding and Directional
Signage
People who are more frequent visitors of
Knoxville will appreciate a consistent brand 7. Internal Parking Structure Wayfinding
so they know that when they use a City of and Aesthetic Improvements
Knoxville parking structure it will be clean,
safe, and easily accessible. By its very nature, a
dense urban area is not always hospitable for
driving a car around, but the City can make
the experience of accessing parking and
getting around as convenient as possible with
the following recommendations.

1 Consistent Brand Development
Currently, the four City-owned and two County-owned public parking garages have similar
parking signage and marquees in a subdued-green color. Additionally, street signs that identify
where parking is located use the same color scheme. This is important for developing a sense of
brand recognition and for distinguishing public facilities from private ones. However, branding
is not consistent between physical signage and digital platforms. The PBA’s website and
parking brand clash with the City’s website and with signage found throughout the City. Many
online parking functions are hosted on other parking websites instead of the City’s. Several
surface parking lots, such as the Blackstock Lot and the World’s Fair Lot, lack the same distinct
parking signs that are found in front of the downtown parking ramps.
To promote parking as a distinct entity, rather than associated only with the County, City, or
PBA separately, the three entities should develop a consistent brand including fonts, colors,
and a logo. All street parking signage, facility entrance signage, parking website, and online
reservation/payment portals should use this format for a consistent look and feel. As other
facilities, such as the Coliseum parking structures, are added to the PBA’s portfolio, a unique
and easily identifiable parking brand would encourage higher utilization and an improved
customer experience.
Cities including Lexington, Minneapolis, and Columbus have developed unique brands and
logos that are used across all websites, marketing materials, digital websites, and physical
signage. This especially helps when parking is operated by a separate entity so that parkers
know that they are still using a public parking facility. Similarly, “KnoxParking” could act as
an easily recognizable brand for the renewed City Parking Division to launch a marketing
campaign with.
Related: Online Parking Information | Parking-Related Communications and Marketing

Campaign

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
2 Online Parking Information
Currently, the most up-to-date parking information is hosted on Downtown Knoxville’s website,
instead of the City’s website. A pull-down tab is available on the website’s menu, showing the
real-time count of available parking spaces. A section of the website dedicated to parking also
includes an interactive map of public and private downtown parking locations, including the
hourly rates, payment hours, and monthly parking contract rates.
Meanwhile, other pieces of information are hosted on the City’s website, including information
on parking meter enforcement and recent changes to the Stop-N-Go short-term parking
program, links to the City’s parking and traffic regulations, the Civic Center and KAT, the PBA’s
website for information about monthly parking, and a map of Sevier Avenue Corridor parking.
Finally, the PBA has its own website which provides information about off-street parking
locations and rates, games day parking instructions, electric vehicle charging options, student
parking, and a link for managing monthly parking permits.
All parking information should be consolidated into one of the above websites and branded
specifically under the established parking brand. All payment portals should include this
branding. This website should continue to link to related mobility information such as KAT’s
website. It could also serve as the primary host for all City bike and micromobility information.
For example, mobility information has a dedicated tab on ParkOmaha’s website.
Related: Consistent Brand Development | Parking-Related Communications and Marketing

Campaign | Monthly Parking Permit Management

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$

3 Parking-Related Communications and Marketing
Campaign
Changes to the on- and off-street parking environment are necessary to improve the overall
customer experience and offer a greater variety of options while remaining fiscally responsible.
However, these changes cannot occur in a vacuum and will require ongoing communication
and educational marketing with the public and visitors.
As changes associated with this report’s recommendations are rolled out, the new Parking
Division should develop and release an education and promotion campaign around where to
park, when payment is required, and how to pay. Communications should come in the form
of flyers, social media, an improved website, advertisements, and videos. The City of Knoxville
should leverage and expand upon content it already has created. The City should work with the
Knoxville Chamber, Downtown Knoxville, Visit Knoxville, hotels, event promoters, and others to
distribute information to prospective visitors and those booking trips to Knoxville. The Parking
Division should work closely with KAT and micromobility planners for coordinated marketing
and education efforts, especially in advance of large events.
Related: Consistent Brand Development | Online Parking Information

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
A sign marketing the change toward ‘pay-by-plate’ parking in Scranton, PA.

(Source: Posture)
4 On-Street Parking Information Signage
Moving towards an asset-lite and ‘pay-by-plate’ approach with a mobile payment app and
multispace parking meters, will be a significant change for parkers in Knoxville and will require
consistent messaging regarding how to pay and the hours when parking is enforced.
It is recommended that the City consider adopting the messaging “Pay to Park” and the
information “Vehicle License Plate Required” for parking payment signage in on-street and
ungated paid off-street parking areas. All payment options should be listed on the signage.
Note that this signage is intended to replace current signage as technology, payment options,
and hours of enforcement change. As these signs are being installed, the City should address
and remove any inconsistent or outdated signage.
An opportunity to reduce signage clutter when transitioning towards a multi-space meter

environment is to re-use former meter posts as signs by placing an informational sticker on
them. This will assist users who may not immediately recognize the change by instructing them
exactly how payments can be made. It is also a helpful reminder of which zone somebody parks
in when they are using a mobile payment app.
Related: Parking-Related Communications and Marketing Campaign | Off-Street Parking

Wayfinding Signage | ‘Pay-by-Plate’ Approach

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
An example of the recommended parking payment signage is included in the above left image
from Sarasota, Florida. Note that the text below the pay station that reads “Enter License Plate
for 10 Min. Free” should be replaced by “Credit Card Accepted at Meter Pay Station.” This report
is not recommending the first 10 minutes free in Knoxville because short-term parkers are
directed to use Stop’ n’ Go parking spaces.

5 Off-Street Parking Wayfinding Signage
The City of Knoxville has several signs throughout the downtown directing parkers toward
nearby parking facilities. These street signs have a consistent look and feel as the entrance
signage in front of parking structures. Because of the popularity of Market Square Garage and
the underutilization of nearby State Street Garage, these signs should be reviewed to determine
opportunities to redirect parkers away from Market Square and toward underutilized facilities.
Because Knoxville’s parking utilization varies significantly depending on event schedules, the
City should consider installing digital parking signage at key entrance points to the City such as
along Henley Street, Cumberland Avenue, Gay Street, and Summit Hill Drive. These would give
real-time parking availability counts for the downtown parking structures and arrows pointing
towards the facilities. They could also be programmed to direct parkers toward park-and-ride
locations if parts of downtown are blocked off for events.
Finally, the City should ensure that off-street parking marquee signs are consistent with the
parking brand. All public surface lots should have signage that looks and feels consistent with
signs in front of parking structures. Additional signage may be needed to inform parkers of
payment and enforcement hours. The project team observed that some marquee signs outside
of parking structures have become faded in the sun and need to be retouched.
Related: On-Street Parking Information Signage | Internal Parking Structure Wayfinding and
Aesthetic Improvements

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
6 Pedestrian Wayfinding and Directional Signage

Everyone is a pedestrian at some point in their journey, particularly in a place like Downtown
Knoxville that is so walkable and relatively compact. Knoxville has recognized this and placed
‘fishbowl ’-style directional maps inside its parking structures. To extend this service throughout
the pedestrian journey, the City should identify locations near exits to public parking facilities,
hotels, and bus stops that are along important pedestrian routes. The City should provide “you
are here” maps and wayfinding tools to help guide visitors to various downtown destinations.
Include public parking facility names on all pedestrian directional signs and maps. All signage
should be consistent with the City’s messaging and brand. Physical maps should be consistent
with maps used inside parking structures and across all digital platforms.
On the following page, Asheville’s River Arts District offers an excellent example of signage
catered to pedestrians that matches vehicle-oriented signage. Using the same colors, fonts,
and symbols creates a synergy where signage is complimentary and useful for all modes of
transportation.
6 Pedestrian Wayfinding and Directional Signage,
cont.
Above: Example of a downtown map for Portland, Maine. The City provides parking locations
with names and addresses along with public restroom locations.
Related: On-Street Parking Information Signage

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$

7 Internal Parking Structure Wayfinding and
Aesthetic Improvements
Consistent with the goal of offering an excellent parking customer experience throughout a
person’s visit downtown, parking garages should be colorful and include necessary signage
directing visitors toward elevators, exits, and nearby attractions. Currently, downtown parking
structures have maps on each floor that give visitors a sense of place.
Aesthetic improvements that utilize color, light, artwork, and symbols are often used to change
perceptions of a parking structure from something that might feel threatening or cave-like into
a pleasant and memorable place. There are opportunities to brighten and paint the lobbies,
stairwells, elevator areas, and walkways so that a parker can more easily identify and remember
which facility and floor they parked in. Digital signs in lobbies could be updated daily to include
a downtown event calendar and real-time information about transit connections and directions,
and hours of operation of nearby businesses. The City should add aesthetic improvements to its
Capital Improvement Plan and begin setting aside capital reserves for this purpose.
Related: Off-Street Parking Wayfinding Signage | Capital Budgeting

Relative Cost $-$$$
$$$
Aesthetically-pleasing garages are important for offering a high-level of customer

services and encouraging parkers to use parking structures.
• Develop consistent brand to use for all
parking-related marketing between City,
County, and PBA
• Consolidate all parking information and
user payment management on one
web-based platform
• Update on-street signage around pay-
by- plate and mobile payment system
• Update and develop new pedestrian Medium-Term Focus
wayfinding maps and signs
• Update off-street rules and parking
information signage
• Install digital signage at key entrances
to downtown
• Make aesthetic improvements to off- Long-Term/Ongoing Focus
street parking facilities
• Education and marketing campaign
and communicate with public
throughout

Walker Consultants
Parking System Evaluation for Downtown and Fort Sanders
May 2024
CITY OF KNOXVILLE, TN
Public Survey of Parking
for
The City of Knoxville
(February 2024)
Prepared by:
john j. CLARK & ASSOCIATES, Inc.
4009 North Course Drive
CHARLOTTE NC 28277
412-973-9285
www.clarkservices.net
Under contract with WALKER CONSULTANTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
This report represents a summary of the findings from an online survey conducted in the City of
Knoxville. Following this summary is a detailed report narra�ve. Survey graphs and tables follow,
and the exhibits include the survey instrument, top zip codes and open-ended comments. This
survey was conducted online from November 4 through December 6, 2023. The city of Knoxville
distributed this survey through various channels to obtain feedback on parking. As such, this is
not a random survey but an effort to engage the city of Knoxville residents and learn their
percep�ons on parking.
Most of the respondents to this survey were residents of the City of Knoxville, including those
living within the city limits and living downtown. These two groups represent 69% percent of
the respondents.
The frequency in which respondents drive into downtown Knoxville shows a majority travel
either daily or “two or three �mes a week.” This suggests these survey respondents have much
more direct experience driving and parking in Downtown Knoxville.
The respondents prefer to pay for parking by credit/debit card. The least preferred method
appears to be QR code and cash.
Respondents classified their posi�on in the community in the following rank order:
1. Visitors, 41% (546)
2. Downtown office employees, 24% (311)
3. Downtown residents, 15% (191)
Respondents were provided with three choices regarding the op�ons they use for their parking
decision needs. Following was their rank order of choices:
1. Affordable and easy to find, but less convenient, 46% (617)
2. Convenient and easy to find but less affordable, 32% (436)
3. Affordable and convenient, but difficult to find, 22% (302)
It is not surprising that when asked if special events or entertainment events downtown or at
the University, force respondents to park elsewhere than where they would normally park?”
most respondents said yes as shown on the diagram below:
2
Respondents were asked about where they normally park downtown, and they could choose as
many answers as possible that applied. More than 80% selected city-owned parking structure or
surface parking lot.
When asked to rate the quality of the parking in downtown Knoxville respondents indicated
“City-owned parking structure or surface parking lot” were highest at 81% (1106), followed by
“On street metered spaces” at 41% (560).
Most, 50% (690) perceive that there is enough car parking in downtown Knoxville except for a
few peak periods of demand. The next nearest group, 35% (474) answered there is not enough
parking!
When asked “How would you rate the quality of parking and pedestrian wayfinding signs
throughout Downtown Knoxville that provide informa�on about the various parking op�ons?”
42% (576) considered it average while 29% (388) considered it below average. The overall
weighted average on a 5-point scale where 1 is poor and 5 is excellent, was 2.77.
When respondents were asked to rank how they select where to park downtown (where 1 is
most important) safety and security for myself and family was ranked first, 30% by 402
respondents; followed by affordable parking 25% by 327 respondents.
When respondents were asked how they select where to park in downtown Knoxville, most,
58% (795) selected loca�ons where they feel safe, and 46% (623) prefer to park in city-owned
parking structures.
3
We asked an open-ended ques�on to solicit the one thing respondents would change about
parking in Downtown Knoxville the following are the responses:
1. 46% (426) respondents had a spectrum of general recommenda�ons,
2. 19% (176) suggested more parking,
3. 9% (79) suggested free parking,
4. 8% (75) wanted reduced prices for parking,
5. and 8% (68) expressed a need for more safety.
Following are some of the themes we uncovered in the 46%, more themes are included in the
detailed report:
 Getting rid of private owned surface lots
 Smart meters and parking app. Demand pricing on streets so there are always 2-3 spots
on a block.
 The ability for Knoxville businesses to have a pass/card from the city allowing us free
parking in any of the city garages (Market sq, State St. Locust St. garages etc.). It would
make the downtown Knoxville experience so much more enjoyable knowing my city has
my back in even the smallest ways.
 Eliminate on street parking along Gay Street from the Summit to Main and widen the
sidewalks like on the 100 block.
 Remove all low yield surface lots.
4
DETAILED SUMMARY REPORT
INTRODUCTION:
The total response to the online survey was 1,381. As expected, most survey respondents are
residents of the City of Knoxville either living downtown or within the city limits. When combined
these City dwellers are 69% of the survey par�cipants. Thirty percent (417) of the respondents live
outside of the city limits but within East Tennessee.
When asked about how o�en they drive into downtown Knoxville, 78% of the combined
respondents answered either daily, 30% (410); two or three �mes a week, 26% (357) or once a
week at 21.5% (297). This suggests these survey respondents have much more direct experience
driving and parking in Downtown Knoxville. (Almost 12.5% answered once a month while 5%
answered “other”. Of the 73 respondents that selected “other” more than 40 answered 3-6 �mes
per week, approximately 20 answered 2-3 �mes per month, 7 answered they bike, and the other
answers were varied.)
Fi�y-eight percent (797) of the respondents prefer to pay for parking by credit/debit card.
(Fourteen percent and 12% prefer to pay by phone or cash, respec�vely. Almost 16% (217) of
respondents chose “other” while most of the respondents (over 80%) answered free or not prefer
to pay, 29 answered they prefer to pay by monthly passes, 5 iden�fied Apple pay and the
remaining answers were varied.)
Respondents were asked “how would you classify your posi�on in the community?” and they
could select as many as apply. The results were:
1. Visitors, 41% (564)

2. Downtown office employees, 23.5% (311)
3. Re�red, 15.5% (203)
4. Town residents, 14.5% (191)
5
The respondents were provided with three choices about the op�on for their parking needs and
the following shows how they responded:
1. Affordable and easy to find, but less convenient, 45% (617)

2. Convenient and easy to find but less affordable, 32% (436)
3. Affordable and convenient, but difficult to find, 22% (302)
When asked about their main reason for driving into downtown Knoxville, respondents could
choose as many answers as possible that applied. They selected entertainment such as dining,
special or entertainment events and shopping, among others. This is what one would expect from
a well-func�oning downtown. Following are the results:
• Dining, 76% (1044)

• Special or entertainment event, 65% (900)
• Leisure or urban recrea�on, 55.5% (762)
• Shopping, 48% (658)
• Employment, 36% (491)
• University of Tennessee event, 23% (319)
• Indicated conference or conven�on center event, 16% (220)
• Home residence, 10% (134)
• Other which included comments such as business, church, court, YMCA, farmer’s market,
library, museums/art, school, visi�ng friends and volunteering, 10% (138)
It is not surprising that when asked about special events or entertainment events downtown or at
the University, forcing you to park elsewhere than where you would normally park?”, most
respondents said yes.
6
When asked “Do special events or entertainment events downtown or at the University, force you
to park elsewhere than where you would normally park?” The results are as follows:
• Yes, 62% (852)
• No, 38% (517)
As a follow up to the respondents who answered “yes” to the previous ques�on, they were then
asked, “Is there available parking within a half mile of your regular parking loca�on on these
days?” The results to this follow-up ques�on are listed below:
• Yes, 62% (525)
• No, 38% (322)
Most of the open-ended responses were related to game day such as:
 Parking is horrible for hospital staff on UT game days and almost impossible to get to on
marathon/ bike race day.
 On days with special events, I usually cannot park where I typically do, or I refuse to pay the
additional parking rates in other close by garages. On those days I typically opt to park
much further than normal, and I walk 0.5-1.0 miles to get to my destination.
 On game days it is exceedingly difficult to park to get to work. Sometimes it requires
arriving exceedingly early or just allowing a lot of extra time for a space to open up.
 On game days it is a free for all and I wouldn’t change anything about that. Game days are
my favorite thing about living in Knoxville.
 On game days, my partner refuses to work simply because when he comes home there is
not a single parking space available for him and it can take over half an hour to find a spot.
 On its game days the YMCA closes early due to lack of parking which is simply wrong on
many levels. The state street garage / PBA charges $20 to park. It is really dumb. I must
park at Magnolia and run / jog to the gym. Make the game day people shuttle instead.
Make public parking garages on a voucher system for people who support downtown
businesses instead of sportsball.
7
Respondents were asked about where they normally park downtown, and they could choose as
many answers as possible that applied.
1. City-owned parking structures or surface parking lot, 80% (1106)

2. On-street metered space, 41% (560)
3. Employment or privately-owned and operated parking lot, 24% (336)
4. On-street unregulated parking space, 20% (272)
5. Other, 7% (87) (Listing free parking under the bridge, and privately owned parking lots)
When asked to rate the quality of the parking in downtown Knoxville and respondents indicated:
• City-owned surface parking lots:
o Average, 44% (601)
o Above average, 20% (270)
o Excellent, 10% (140)
o Below average 13% (176)
o Poor, 7% (91)
• Privately-owned and operated surface parking lots:
o Poor, 14% (194)
• On-Street Parking:
o Poor, 12% (164)
8
Respondents were also asked to provide addi�onal explana�ons or comments to support their
answer. Below are excerpts from the surveys.
 I find it very inconvenient that the meters only allow you to stay two hours before you must leave.
Further, there is no way to track your time via app and no way to pay via app. I do not understand
why so much money was spent with new meters and they have Zero technology.
 The varied rates and hours are confusing to visitors, resulting in unnecessary fines. Is that the goal??
 Not enough handicap parking; Not enough long-term meters
 Not enough street parking, and the rates for the lots are unconscionable!!!! I would go downtown
more if I could FIND parking and if I could AFFORD it!
 Not necessarily parking, planning is the key.
 PARKING IN COUNTY/CITY PARKING GARAGE BEST. THE ONLINE STREET PARKING METERS ARE NOT
EASY TO USE, I DON'T HAVE A PHONE WHICH YOU CAN PARK ON IN PRIVATE PARKING LOTS.
 City owned garages are already affordable and adequate 99% of the time. Any additional need for
parking needs to be integrated into new buildings (out of sight) or along the edges of downtown
(not taking up any more downtown surface area
 City owned garages need good power washing, updates to lighting, cleaning of the stairwell’s
privately owned lots are cracked, poor condition, trashy on-street parking should be eliminated.
 City owned parking garages need more EV chargers. Private garages are too expensive.
 On-street parking needs painted lines and possibly enforcement of poor parking jobs during large
events
 City owned surfaces will not meet demand in 10 years. Privately owned surfaces are few and farther
in between and are planning to or will be developed. On the street parking is sparse and difficult to
contend with vendor deliveries on weekdays. Street parking also hinders valet operations as
unknowingly folk park in a valet lane.
 City-owned lots are definitely better than private lots.
 City-owned lots are woefully inadequate for current needs. More municipal lots are desperately
needed. Private lots exist but tend to be extremely expensive, do not offer monthly rates for
residents and workers, and are below a reasonable standard of safety. On-street parking is generally
good but obviously quite limited in quantity.
 City-owned parking garages are usually well-maintained, as opposed to city-owned surface lots.
9
When asked if there is enough car parking in downtown Knoxville, most perceive there is enough
parking. The following list quan�fies their responses:
 Yes, at all �mes during the week, 15% (208)

 Yes, except for a few peak periods of demand, 50% (690)
 No, there is not enough parking, 35% (474)
The following are suppor�ng statements for their responses, however, many of the comments
were related to not enough handicap parking.
 As a manager of a retail location, I often struggle to find a place to unload supplies within a
reasonable distance. I usually end up parking illegally.
 As a resident sometimes I need to haul in groceries, move furniture or pets, etc so access to
occasional priority parking would be great. Send the tourists (even those from Farragut and
Maryville) to the garages.
 Downtown businesses are at a disadvantage since it is free to park at all stores and restaurants
away from downtown. I do not mind walking; however, convenience is important for many people. I
enjoy going downtown and would like to support local businesses, however the mild hassle of
parking, walking, and dodging drug addicts can be enough to steer me away from downtown.
 Downtown has gotten much sketchier, so even options that used to feel safe to park, do not feel so
much anymore. And the way things are set up, it is incredibly unsafe for females being forced to
park in dark, outlying areas or in parking garages or being approached by strangers asking for
money. The parking garages are always full anyway and it is time-consuming and annoying to have
to navigate every single floor to maybe or maybe not find a space, and then sit through long lines
trying to get out, especially during events. (Plus, there are drug needles and such lying around by
the stairs and elevator.) We avoid downtown anymore and have even had to cancel plans with
friends and meet elsewhere due to the lack of parking. This was on a weekday, too!
 My dream would be to have more public transit options to move peak event parking out of
downtown. We have way more than enough parking to cover typical days and I am not interested in
turning our city into a giant parking lot to cover the handful of days a year when it fills.
 Downtown NEEDS more handicapped accessible parking.
10
When asked “How would you rate the quality of parking and pedestrian wayfinding signs
throughout Downtown Knoxville that provide informa�on about the various parking op�ons?” 42% 
considered it average followed by 28% (388) indicated below average, while 19.8% (269)
indicated above average/excellent. Below are excerpts from the survey.
9 Again, there is no handicap parking close to any destination downtown.

9 Again: parking is fine. I wish that the trolley routes and stops were clearer. I have downloaded the
9 Transit app, which I use.
As someone who is downtown almost every day, I can say with confidence that IF there are any signs
that provide information about various parking options, they are NOT noticeable. On numerous instances I
have had drivers stop me while I am walking to ask where there is available parking, epically parking for
short durations or cheaper/free options. People who are unfamiliar with downtown may not know where to
park, especially during events.
9 Need more signs “you are here” and for handicaps though I do appreciate the sign that shows how
many spots are left. I have an issue with handicap for sure. No rhyme or reason where they are located.
9 Great info on the website, but parking signs would be more helpful.
9 I do not think we do a wonderful job with pedestrian wayfinding. Parking is fine.
It is ok if you are a Knoxville resident - but thinking from an out of towner's perspective - it is not good
at all.
9 Almost 36% (491) believed that the price of parking in downtown Knoxville is less expensive as
compared to other local and regional cents, followed by 27% (379) of the respondents are unfamiliar with
cost of parking in other local and regional centers with 13% (179) believes it is more expensive.
When asked to rank the following op�ons in order of importance regarding how respondents
select where to park downtown (where 1 is most important), safety and security for myself and
family was ranked first at almost 30% followed by affordable parking at 24% (327), then
convenient, well-lighted close to shops and ameni�es at almost 22% (296). Priory parking for
residents outside their proper�es was the least important at 54% (731) of respondents followed by
fairly priced parking helps manage demand at 19% (262) of respondents.
11
When asked how they select where to park in downtown Knoxville, more than 58% (795) selected
it is very important to park in loca�ons where they feel safe, 46% (623) prefer city-owned parking
structure versus a privately-owned and operated loca�on, and 32% (438) indicated that is very
important to park closest to their des�na�on. Whereas 29% (401) equally believe it is “important
to park at the first open spot within 2-3 blocks of their des�na�on” and 29% (400) “park at the
lowest priced lot/parking structure”. There were 50% (742) that did not select “parking to take
public transit” or “parking near transit lots” as especially important.
We asked an open-ended ques�on to solicit the one thing respondents would change about
parking in Downtown Knoxville the following are the responses:
• 46% (426) respondents had a spectrum of general recommenda�ons,

• 19% (176) suggested more parking,
• 9% (79) suggested free parking,
• 8% (75) wanted reduced prices for parking,
• and 8% (68) expressed a need for more safety.
12
The following are some of the themes we uncovered in the 46%:
 Getting rid of private owned surface lots

 Smart meters and parking app. Demand pricing on streets so there are always 2-3 spots on a block.
 The ability for Knoxville businesses to have a pass/card from the city allowing us free parking in any
of the city garages (Market sq, State St. Locust St. garages etc.). It would make the downtown
Knoxville experience so much more enjoyable knowing my city has my back in even the smallest
ways.
 Eliminate on street parking along Gay Street from the Summit to Main and widen the sidewalks like
on the 100 block.
 Remove all low yield surface lots.
 Make the baseball stadium development build a garage to accommodate the increased number of
visitors to the Old City.
 Parking app to prepay for the morning the night before.
 Less parking in downtown area, more walkability! If there is to be parking let there be multiple story
parking garages on the outskirts and let the downtown be for citizens rather than vehicles!
 Remove commercial loading zones. Require business deliveries to be made before 8 am so the
commercial trucks can just use the normal spaces but are gone when non-commercial people need
to park. minimize valet parking. Make people more aware of the coliseum parking....and make that
a safer place to park.
 Remove the 2-hour free handicapped limit on parking or extend it. Remember we are a lot slower
moving than people without disabilities.
 I would want it to be reduced/not prioritized and more consolidated. We have an immense number
of surface parking lots that are inefficient and ugly and that do not provide any benefit to the city.
Additionally, we have SO MUCH parking at the expense of the city and its residents. Shops,
residential, etc. should be prioritized over parking. It is the city, and it should be for people, not cars.
But, if there has to be some parking, make it consolidated, have ground level retail, and make it
aesthetically pleasing, wrapped with residential, and make it easy to convert to living units in the
future. Finally, provide incentives for transit for those who have access to it, and prioritize parking
spots for those who do not have access.
 Easier to get in and out of the parking garages.
 Cleaner/better maintained lots
The following are the graphs and tables for all the survey data. The exhibits include the survey
instrument, top zip codes and open-ended ques�ons at the end of this report.
13
Q1: Please indicate in which of the following areas you live.
(n=1,381)
56.99%
60.00%
50.00%
40.00% 30.20%
30.00%
20.00% 12.31%
10.00% 0.51%
0.00%
I live outside of I live outside of I live in I live outside of
Downtown, but the city limits, Downtown East Tennessee
within the city but within East Knoxville
limits Tennessee
Answer Choices Responses Number
I live outside of Downtown, but within the city limits 56.99% 787
I live outside of the city limits, but within East Tennessee 30.20% 417
I live in Downtown Knoxville 12.31% 170
I live outside of East Tennessee 0.51% 7
Completed 1,381
14
Q2: Generally, how often do you drive into Downtown Knoxville?
(n=1,381)
29.69%
30.00%
25.85%
25.00%
21.51%
20.00%
15.00% 12.45%
10.00%
4.71% 5.29%
5.00%
0.51%
0.00%
Everyday Two or Once a Once a Less Never Other
three week month frequently (please
times a specify)
week

Everyday 29.69% 410
Two or three times a week 25.85% 357
Once a week 21.51% 297
Once a month 12.45% 172
Less frequently 4.71% 65
Never 0.51% 7
Other (please specify) 5.29% 73
Completed 1,381
15
Q3: How do you prefer to pay for parking?
(n=1,375)
100%
90%
80%
70% 57.96%
60%
50%
40%
30%
14.11% 15.78%
12.15%
20%
10%
0%
Credit/Debit Card Pay with Cash Pay by Phone Other (please
specify)

Everyday 29.69% 410
Two or three times a week 25.85% 357
Once a week 21.51% 297
Once a month 12.45% 172
Less frequently 4.71% 65
Never 0.51% 7
Completed 1,381
16
Q4: How would you classify your position in the community?
(select as many as apply)
(n=1,316)
45.00% 41.49%
40.00%
35.00%
30.00%
25.00% 23.63%
20.00%
15.43% 14.51%
15.00%
10.00% 7.14% 6.23%

4.64%
5.00% 2.13%
0.00%

Visitor 41.49% 546
Downtown Office Employee 23.63% 311
Retired 15.43% 203
Downtown Resident 14.51% 191
DowntownBusiness Owner 7.14% 94
Downtown Hospitality Employee 6.23% 82
Student 4.64% 61
Downtown Retail Employee 2.13% 28
Completed 1,316
17
Q5: If you could only choose one option for your parking needs, which one
would you choose?
(n=1,355)
50.00% 45.54%
45.00%
40.00%
32.18%
35.00%
30.00%
22.29%
25.00%
20.00%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
Affordable and easy Convenient and easy Affordable and
to find, but less to find, but less convenient, but
convenient affordable difficult to find

Affordable and easy to find, but less
convenient 45.54% 617
Convenient and easy to find, but less
affordable 32.18% 436
Affordable and convenient, but difficult to
find 22.29% 302
Completed 1,355
18
Q6: What are the main reasons for you driving into Downtown Knoxville?
(select as many as apply)
(n=1,372)
80.00% 76.09%
70.00% 65.60%
60.00% 55.54%
47.96%
50.00%
40.00% 35.79%
30.00% 23.25%
20.00% 16.03%
10.06% 9.77%
10.00%
0.00%

Dining 76.09% 1044
Special or Entertainment Event 65.60% 900
Leisure or Urban Recreation 55.54% 762
Shopping 47.96% 658
Employment 35.79% 491
University of Tennessee Event 23.25% 319
Conference or Convention Center Event 16.03% 220
Home Residence 9.77% 134
Completed 1,372
19
Q7: Do special events or entertainment events downtown or at the
University, force you to park elsewhere than where you would
normally park? (n=1,369)
37.8%
Yes
No
62.2%

Yes 62.24% 852
No 37.76% 517
Completed 1,369
20
Q8: Is there available parking within a half mile of your regular parking
location on these days?
(n=847)
38.0%
Yes
No
62.0%

Yes 61.98% 525
No 38.02% 322
Completed 847
21
Q9: Where do you normally park when you are downtown? (select as many
boxes as apply)
(n=1,373)
90.00%
80.55%
80.00%
70.00%
60.00%
50.00% 40.79%
40.00%
30.00% 24.47%
19.81%
20.00%
7.28% 6.34%
10.00%
0.00%

City-owned parking structure or surface parking lot 80.55% 1106
On-street metered space 40.79% 560
Place of employment or privately-owned and operated parking structure
or surface lot 24.47% 336
On-street unregulated parking space 19.81% 272
I do not know the parking space ownership 6.34% 87
Completed 1,373
22
Q10: Thinking about parking overall in Downtown Knoxville, how would you
rate the quality of each of the following parking options:
(n=1,372)
Poor Below Average Average Above Average Excellent N/A
6.6% 12.9% 43.9% 19.7% 10.2%6.7%

CITY-OWNED SURFACE PARKING LOTS
PRIVATELY-OWNED AND OPERATED 14.3% 17.2% 40.1% 8.5%

2.1% 17.9%
SURFACE PARKING LOTS
12.0% 18.8% 44.9% 14.6% 5.2%

4.5%
ON-STREET PARKING
Below Above
Poor Average Excellent N/A
Average Average
Weighted
Total
Average
Percent # Percent # Percent # Percent # Percent # Percent #
City-owned surface parking lots 6.64% 91 12.85% 176 43.87% 601 19.71% 270 10.22% 140 6.72% 92 1370 3.15
Privately-owned and operated

surface parking lots 14.25% 194 17.19% 234 40.12% 546 8.52% 116 2.06% 28 17.85%243 1361 2.6
On-Street Parking 11.98% 164 18.77% 257 44.92% 615 14.61% 200 5.19% 71 4.53% 62 1369 2.81
Completed 1,372
23
Q11: Do you consider there to be enough overall car parking in Downtown
Knoxville?
(n=1,372)
15.2%
34.6% Yes, at all times during the

week
Yes, except for a few peak
periods of demand
No, there is not enough
parking
50.3%

Yes, except for a few peak periods of demand 50.29% 690
No, there is not enough parking 34.55% 474
Yes, at all times during the week 15.16% 208
Completed 1,372
24
Q12: How would you rate the quality of parking and pedestrian wayfinding
signs throughout Downtown Knoxville that provide information
about the various parking options?
(n=1,358)
100%
90%
Poor Below Average
80%
Average Above Average
Excellent
70%
60%
50%
42.4%
40%
30% 28.6%
20% 15.7%
10% 9.2%
4.1%
0%
Below Above Weighted

Poor Average Average Average Excellent Total
Average
Percent # Percent # Percent # Percent # Percent #
9.20% 125 28.57% 388 42.42% 576 15.68% 213 4.12% 56 1358 2.77
Completed 1,358
25
Q13: How do you think the price of parking in Downtown Knoxville
compares to other local and regional centers?
(n=1,373)
40.00%
35.76%
35.00%
30.00% 27.39%
23.82%
25.00%
20.00%
13.04%
15.00%
10.00%
5.00%
0.00%
Less Expensive Similar I am not familiar More Expensive
with parking in
other local and
regional centers

Less Expensive 35.76% 491
Similar 27.39% 376
I am not familiar with parking in other local and
regional centers 23.82% 327
More Expensive 13.04% 179
Completed 1,373
26
Q14: Please rank the following options in order of importance regarding how
you select where to park downtown (where 1 is most important).
(n=1,354)
4.37
4.5
3.95 3.94 3.85
4
3.5
2.8
3
2.5 2.09
1.5
0.5
0
Safety and Convenient, Affordable Safety and Fairly priced Priority
security for well-located parking security of parking helps parking for
myself and parking close parking manage residents
family to shops and structures demand outside their
amenities properties
1 2 3 4 5 6
Score
Percent # Percent # Percent # Percent # Percent # Percent #
Column1
Safety and security for myself and family 29.69%402 24.15% 327 18.54% 251 13.15% 178 9.75% 132 4.73% 64 4.37
Convenient, well-located parking close to shops and

amenities 21.86%296 18.76% 254 19.57% 265 20.38% 276 11.45% 155 7.98% 108 3.95
Affordable parking 24.15%327 17.28% 234 17.95% 243 17.65% 239 15.21% 206 7.75% 105 3.94
Safety and security of parking structures 11.67%158 26.66% 361 22.01% 298 20.16% 273 13.29% 180 6.20% 84 3.85
Fairly priced parking helps manage demand 5.91% 80 8.64% 117 14.48% 196 20.61% 279 31.02% 420 19.35% 262 2.8
Priority parking for residents outside their properties 6.72% 91 4.51% 61 7.46% 101 8.05% 109 19.28% 261 53.99% 731 2.09
Completed 1,354
27
Q15: Please tell us how you select where to park in Downtown Knoxville:
(n=1,371)
60.00%
50.00%
40.00%
30.00%
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
Very Important Somewhat Important Neither Important or not important Not very important Not at all important
Neither
Somewhat Important or not Not very Not at all Total
Very Important Important important important important
% # % # % # % # % #
I park closest to my destination 32.37% 438 43.39% 587 12.71% 172 8.65% 117 2.88% 39 1353
I prefer on-street parking 10.33% 140 20.44% 277 28.27% 383 20.00% 271 20.96% 284 1355
I park at the lowest priced lot/parking structure 29.54% 400 32.20% 436 19.42% 263 11.96% 162 6.87% 93 1354
I prefer to park in a city-owned parking structure versus a
privately-owned and operated location 45.78% 623 21.23% 289 19.32% 263 5.07% 69 8.60% 117 1361
I take public transit and park near transit lots 5.06% 68 7.06% 95 18.22% 245 14.50% 195 55.17% 742 1345
I park at the first open spot within 2-3 blocks of my destination 29.62% 401 40.84% 553 16.54% 224 9.38% 127 3.62% 49 1354
I park in locations where I feel safe. 58.46% 795 28.53% 388 7.72% 105 3.82% 52 1.47% 20 1360
Completed 1,371
28
Q17: Please indicate your age group:
(n=1,365)
30.00%
25.7%
25.00% 22.7%
20.00% 17.9%
15.5%
15.00% 13.3%
10.00%
4.6%
5.00%
0.2%
0.00%
Under 18 18-24 25-34 35-44 45-54 55-64 65+

Under 18 0.22% 3
18-24 4.62% 63
25-34 22.71% 310
35-44 25.71% 351
45-54 17.88% 244
55-64 15.53% 212
65+ 13.33% 182
Completed 1,365
29
EXHIBIT I
SURVEY INSTRUMENT
30
Knoxville Questionnaire
1. Please indicate in which of the following areas you live.
I live in Downtown Knoxville
I live outside of Downtown, but within the city limits
I live outside of the city limits, but within East Tennessee I live
outside of East Tennessee
2. Generally, how often do you drive into Downtown Knoxville?
Everyday
Two or three times a week
Once a week
Once a month
Less frequently
Never
Other (please specify)
3. How do you prefer to pay for parking?
Credit/Debit Card
Pay with Cash
Pay by Phone
31
4. How would you classify your position in the community? (select as many as apply)
Downtown Resident
Downtown
Business Owner
Downtown Retail Employee
Downtown Hospitality Employee
Downtown Office Employee Visitor
Retired
Student
5. If you could only choose one option for your parking needs, which one would you choose?
Affordable and convenient, but difficult to find
Affordable and easy to find, but less convenient
Convenient and easy to find, but less affordable
6. What are the main reasons for you driving into Downtown Knoxville? (select as many as apply)
Employment
Leisure or Urban Recreation Home
Residence
Special or Entertainment Event
Shopping
Dining
Conference or Convention Center Event University
of Tennessee Event
32
7. Do special events or entertainment events downtown or at the University, force you to park
elsewhere than where you would normally park?
Yes
No
8. Is there available parking within a half mile of your regular parking location on these days?
Yes
No
Please provide any additional explanation or comments to support or clarify your answer below:
9. Where do you normally park when you are downtown? (select as many boxes as apply)
Place of employment or privately-owned and operated parking structure or surface lot City-
owned parking structure or surface parking lot
On-street metered space
On-street unregulated parking space
I do not know the parking space ownership Other
(please specify)
10. Thinking about parking overall in Downtown Knoxville, how would you rate the quality of each of
the following parking options:
Below Above
Poor Average Average Average Excellent N/A
Privately-owned and
operated surface
parking lots
Please provide any additional explanation or comments to support or clarify your answer below:
33
11. Do you consider there to be enough overall car parking in Downtown Knoxville?
Yes, at all times during the week
Yes, except for a few peak periods of demand No,
there is not enough parking
12.How would you rate the quality of parking and pedestrian wayfinding signs throughout
Downtown Knoxville that provide information about the various parking options?
Poor Below Average Average Above Average Excellent
Please provide any additional comments to support your answer below:
13. How do you think the price of parking in Downtown Knoxville compares to other local and regional
centers?
Similar
More Expensive
Less Expensive
I am not familiar with parking in other local and regional centers
14. Please rank the following options in order of importance regarding how you select where to
park downtown (where 1 is most important).
Convenient, well-located parking close to shops and amenities
Affordable parking
Priority parking for residents outside their properties
Safety and security for myself and family
Safety and security of parking structures
Fairly priced parking helps manage demand
34
15. Please tell us how you select where to park in Downtown Knoxville:
Very Important Somewhat Neither Important Not Very Not at all

Important or not Important Important Important
I prefer on-street parking
I prefer to park in a
city-owned parking
structure versus a
privately-owned and
operated location
I park at the first open

spot within 2-3 blocks
of my destination
Please provide any additional explanation or comments to support or clarify your answer below:)
16. If you could change one thing about parking in downtown Knoxville, what would that be?
35
17. Please indicate your age group:
Under 18
18-24
25-34
35-44
45-54
55-64
65+
18.Please provide your zip code for data mapping purposes:
36
EXHIBIT 2
TOP ZIP CODES FROM RESPONDENTS
37
TOP ZIP-CODES OF RESPONDENTS
# of
Neighborhood(s) %
Zip Codes Respondents
37902 Dowtown, Old City 115 9.11%
37917 North Knoxville 221 17.50%
37918 Fountain City 114 9.03%
37919 Bearden, Marble City, Rocky Hill 88 6.97%
37920 Knoxville 131 10.37%
37921 Norwood 55 4.35%
Subtotal 724 57.32%
All Other 539 42.68%
Total 1,263 100.00%
38
ZIP CODES SUMMARY
n= 1263 (n=1,263)
Greater than 5 Responses 5 or Less Responses
Zip Codes Total # Percentage Zip Codes Total Percentage
37917 221 17.50% 37876 4 0.32%
37920 131 10.37% 37820 4 0.32%
37902 115 9.11% 37772 4 0.32%
37918 114 9.03% 37709 3 0.24%
37919 88 6.97% 37705 3 0.24%
37921 55 4.35% 37901 3 0.24%
37914 52 4.12% 37814 3 0.24%
37923 50 3.96% 37806 3 0.24%
37909 48 3.80% 37862 2 0.16%
37912 44 3.48% 37854 2 0.16%
37922 43 3.40% 37760 2 0.16%
37932 41 3.25% 37769 1 0.08%
37931 28 2.22% 37777 4 0.32%
37938 20 1.58% 37766 1 0.08%
37934 17 1.35% 37764 1 0.08%
37849 16 1.27% 37887 1 0.08%
37916 16 1.27% 37886 1 0.08%
37915 16 1.27% 37871 1 0.08%
37803 11 0.87% 37866 1 0.08%
37774 11 0.87% 37860 1 0.08%
37716 10 0.79% 37846 1 0.08%
37830 10 0.79% 37840 1 0.08%
37865 10 0.79% 37757 1 0.08%
37771 9 0.71% 37748 1 0.08%
37924 7 0.55% 11501 1 0.08%
37801 7 0.55% 32693 1 0.08%
37721 6 0.48% 36865 1 0.08%
37804 6 0.48% 37122 1 0.08%
Total 1202 95.17% 37725 1 0.08%
37664 1 0.08%
37940 1 0.08%
37998 1 0.08%
38555 1 0.08%
43026 1 0.08%
47919 1 0.08%
37807 1 0.08%
Total 61 4.83%
39
40
Phase 1 Task Report
Current Parking and Mobility Condi�ons
During Phase 1 of Walker Consultants’ Parking System Evalua�on for the City of Knoxville, Walker reviewed
current condi�ons around parking, accessibility, and mobility in Downtown and Fort Sanders.
Downtown is the business and cultural center of Knoxville, home to major theaters, city and county government
buildings, the Tennessee River waterfront, and the Old City neighborhood surrounding the old train depot. Fort
Sanders is located adjacent to the Downtown and is home to the Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center and
many University of Tennessee students and staff. As of 2021, the Downtown popula�on was ~2,500 and Fort
Sanders’ was ~9,375. The nearby University of Tennessee has nearly 29,000 undergrad students and over 7,000
graduate students.
Figure 1: Map of Downtown and Fort Sanders Study Areas
Source: Walker Consultants, 2023
1
Exis�ng Travel Demand and Mode Share
Downtown Knoxville and Fort Sanders are the primary business, entertainment, and ins�tu�onal hubs of Knox
County and hotspots for the en�re east Tennessee economy. On a typical day, over 150,000 unique trips are
made within the Downtown, Fort Sanders, and University of Tennessee areas 1. A majority of these trips are
made by private automobile, either as the driver or a passenger. A significant quan�ty of trips are also made by
walking compared to most other places in the country. About one in four trips made in Downtown, Fort Sanders,
and University of Tennessee areas are people walking, biking, scootering, or using a rideshare service. Given that
the permanent popula�on of these areas is only about 16,000 residents 2, most daily trips are made by people
coming in from other parts of Knoxville, Knox County, and visi�ng from farther regions.
Figure 2: Typical Number of Daily Trips Termina�ng in each Focus Area
60,000 56,000
50,000
41,000
40,000 34,000
30,000
21,000
20,000
10,000
-
Downtown Fort Sanders East UT Campus West UT Campus
Source: Replica
1
Replica, using synthesized anonymized cell phone loca�on data
2
American Communi�es Survey, 5-year es�mates, 2017-2021
2
Figure 3: Typical Mode Share of Daily Trips Termina�ng in each Focus Area
100%
90%
80%
Percent of Typical Daily Trips
70% 62% 58%

68% 67% 64%
60%
50%
40%
15%
30% 16% 14%
11% 12%
20%
15% 20% 16%
15% 15%
10%
5% 6% 5% 5% 5%
0%
Downtown Fort Sanders East UT Campus West UT Campus Average
Transit Biking Other Walking Auto Passenger Private Auto
Source: Replica
Exis�ng Parking Condi�ons

The project team reviewed sources including previous reports and studies, on-and off-street u�liza�on data, and
satellite imagery to learn about exis�ng parking trends and condi�ons for public and private parking within the
study area.
Parking Land Use

Parking has a tremendous influence on how well various components of a city can func�on. It affects how easy it
is to walk around, how dense an area’s popula�on can be, how much green space a city has, flowrates and
amounts of runoff and pollu�on, and even how hot or cool or environment is by exacerba�ng the urban heat
island effect. Some of these rela�onships can be qualified by calcula�ng how much land parking takes up in a
city.
The project team calculated all public and private parking visible from satellite imagery to determine the percent
of land that parking takes up in the ~530-acre Downtown and Old City study area. Approximately 25%, or 93
acres, of developable land 3 in Downtown Knoxville is dedicated to parking. Seventy-four (74) acres of this is
surface parking, the equivalent land area of approximately 60 Market Square plazas.
3
Developable land was calculated as 75% of all land in the study area to account for roads and hillsides, minus the railroad
right-of-way in Old City.
3
Figure 4: Approximate Areas of Surface and Structured Parking in Downtown Study Area
Source: Walker Consultants, 2023
As a land use, parking serves minimal purpose besides car storage, and there are opportunity costs that come
with this land use. For example, if all surface lots in the Downtown were developed as housing, the area could
accommodate anywhere from 1,000 new residents (assuming new developments are low-rise below 4 stories) to
2,500 new residents (assuming a mix of mid- and high-rise developments), which would double the current
downtown popula�on. Since surface parking lots have rela�vely low property values, increasing the amount of
4
built land would also increase the tax base of Downtown Knoxville and reduce the tax burden on exis�ng
residents. Every parking space, whether it is used or unused, comes with maintenance, security, repair, and debt
service costs, which must be paid through taxing residents and businesses, or charging users of the parking
system.
The propor�on of land dedicated to parking is highly related to how many people choose to commute by driving.
In a na�onal study comparing various American ci�es’ percentages of downtown land use dedicated to parking
and non-car commutes, researchers at the Parking Reform Network found a strong trend: as the ra�o of land
dedicated to parking decreases, non-car commutes (including walking, biking, scootering, and using public
transporta�on) increases. These non-car travel ac�vi�es become easier and safer when there are more
interes�ng places to stop, greater protec�on from the elements, fewer vehicles on the road, and a more defined
travel network to use. Currently, approximately 6% of Knoxville city residents commute to work by walking,
biking, or using transit, which is less than other communi�es with similar amounts of land dedicated to parking.
Figure 5: Non-Car Commute Rate and Percent of Parking in Central City
Knoxville
Sources: Parking Reform Network, 2023; American Communities Survey 5-year Survey 2017-2021
Note that other cities included in this chart are those with metropolitan area populations of over 1 million people. Knoxville’s
metropolitan area is approximately 930,000 people, according to Knoxville-Knox County Planning.
Downtown Parking Inventory

At least 20,800 off-street parking spaces can be found within the downtown study area, consis�ng of
approximately 9,300+ parking spaces in surface lots and 11,500+ in parking garages 4. About 33% of these are
4
Lot inventory es�mated using an average stall + circula�on size of 350sf, and the known acreage of surface lots. Garage
inventory es�mated by adding known inventory of stalls in public and private facili�es, provided by City of Knoxville.
5
Public Building Authority (PBA)-managed public facili�es, 11% are public Coliseum spaces managed by ASM
Global, and 56% are private. This sec�on focuses on publicly accessible city, county, and Coliseum facili�es.
Figure 6: Total Off-Street Parking Inventory of Downtown Knoxville
9,000 8,382
8,000
7,000
6,017
6,000
5,000
4,000 3,297
3,000 2,282
2,000
883
1,000
0
Public Garages Public Lots Private Garages Private Lots Coliseum Garages
Sources: Walker Consultants, 2023; City of Knoxville, 2023
Downtown Public Parking Inventory

There are a combined 9,734+ public parking spaces within the Downtown study area. The majority (94%) are in
off-street facili�es, and the remaining 552 spaces (9%) are metered or short-term 15-minute spaces. Addi�onal
public parking facili�es are available near the Downtown in the Fort Sanders area and across the Tennessee River
at the 700+ space Riverfront Garage.
Table 1 below shows the loca�ons of public off-street facili�es and on-street metered spaces.
Table 1: Public Parking Inventory in Downtown Study Area
Downtown
Garages 6,017
Surface Lots 883
Off-Street
Coliseum 2,282
Subtotal 9,182
Metered 531
On-Street Short-term stalls 21
Subtotal 552
Downtown Total 9,734
Source: City of Knoxville, 2023
6
Figure 7: Loca�ons of On-Street Metered Parking and Off-Street Lots and Garages
Source: PBA, 2023; City of Knoxville, 2023
7
Off-Street Inventory Summary
Most of the parking inventory for transient and monthly contract parkers in the Downtown study area is
provided within four city-owned garages and two county-owned garages. Of these, the State Street Garage has
almost twice the capacity of the next-largest facility, the Dwight Kessel Garage. There are also several public
surface lots surrounding Downtown. The Old City micro-area relies on surface parking lots and on-street parking,
since the nearest garage is several blocks away.
Table 2 below shows the inventory, opera�ng hours, transient rates, and monthly rates for public facili�es within
and nearby the Downtown.
<< Remainder of this page intentionally left blank >>
8
Table 2: Downtown Off-Street Parking Inventory
Monthly Rate
City/County Garages Spaces Ownership Operator Hours of Operation Transient Rate Daily Rate Event Rate Monthly Rate
(Residents)
Free after 6pm and on
Market Square Garage 700 City PBA $1.00/hr $7.00 -- $95 $55
weekends
State Street Garage 1718 City PBA $1.00/hr $7.00 -- $75 $45
weekends
Locust Street Garage 645 City PBA $1.00/hr $7.00 $20.00 $85 $50
weekends
Main Avenue Garage 475 City PBA $1.00/hr $7.00 $20.00 $85 $50
weekends
Open to public after
City County Building Garage 850 City/County PBA -- -- $20.00 -- --
5pm and weekends
Dwight Kessel Garage 964 County PBA $2.00/hr $7.00 $20.00 $75 --
weekends
Summer Place Garage 665 County PBA $2.00/hr $7.00 -- $50 --
weekends
PBA Downtown Garage Subtotal 6,017
Monthly Rate
Spaces Ownership Operator Hours of Operation Transient Rate Daily Rate Event Rate Monthly Rate
City/County Lots (Residents)
Jackson Avenue Lot 190 City PBA $1.00/hr $7.00 -- $55 $35
weekends
Free to public from
Poplar Street Lot 164 City PBA 7am to 6pm (except Free Free $40 -- --
events)
Free after 6pm and on N/A (2-hour
OP Jenkins Lot 38 City PBA $1.50/hr -- $55 $35
weekends limit)
Old City North Lot 101 City PBA 24/7 Free Free -- -- --
Old City South Lot 130 City PBA 24/7 Free Free -- -- --
I-40 Lot East 125 City PBA 24/7 Free Free -- -- --
I-40 Lot West 103 City PBA 24/7 Free Free -- -- --
Volunteer Landing 16 City PBA 24/7 Free Free -- -- --
Hill Avenue Lot 16 City PBA Guest parking 24/7 Free Free -- -- --
PBA Downtown Lot Subtotal 883
Source: City of Knoxville, 2023; PBA, 2023
9
On-Street Inventory Summary
On-street paid parking is enforced Monday through Saturday between 8 a.m.
and 6 p.m., except for the 300-700 blocks of Gay Street, the 300-400 blocks
of Wall Street and Union Avenue, and the 500 block of Market Street, where
enforcement is extended un�l 10 p.m.
Downtown Knoxville primarily has two �me-limita�ons for on-street parking

sessions. Metered spaces within the central core are restricted to 2-hour
parking sessions. Metered spaces around the periphery do not have �me
restric�ons, so paid parking is effec�ve for 10-hours. The 700 block of Market
Street and 200 block of Church Street have 30-minute �me restric�ons. Since
2021, Knoxville has been conver�ng some of its metered spaces to short-
term 15-minute “Stop-N-Go” spaces, and there are now 21 of these spaces
throughout Downtown.
Figure 8: Downtown On-Street Metered Parking Inventory by Time Limit
350 331
300
250
196
200
150
100
50
4
0
30min 2hr 10hr
The hourly parking rates follow �me restric�ons as shown below in Table 3.
Table 3: Downtown On-Street Parking Rates by Time Limit
Meter Time Limit Hourly Parking

Rate
30-min $0.75/hr
2-hour $1.50/hr
10-hour $0.30/hr
Fort Sanders Parking Inventory

There are 597+ public off-street parking stalls in the Fort Sanders study area, all on the east side along Second
Creek. There are 381+ metered on-street parking spaces, in addi�on to numerous free parking spaces
10
throughout the area. The University of Tennessee (UT) and Fort Sanders Medical Center provide many addi�onal
parking op�ons for their students, faculty, pa�ents, and visitors. Although UT manages nearly 20,000 parking
spaces, gameday parking spills out across the Fort Sanders area on fall Saturdays. Figure 10 below shows the
loca�ons of public off-street facili�es and on-street metered spaces.
Table 4: Public Parking Inventory in Fort Sanders study area
Fort Sanders
Off-Street Surface Lots 597
On-Street Metered 381
Fort Sanders Total 978
Figure 9: Loca�ons of On-Street Metered Parking and Off-Street Lots and Garages
Source: PBA, City of Knoxville, 2023
Off-Street Summary
Table 5 below shows the inventory, opera�ng hours, transient rates, and monthly rates for public facili�es within
Fort Sanders.
11
Table 5: Fort Sanders Off-Street Parking Inventory
Monthly Rate
Spaces Ownership Operator Hours of Operation Transient Rate Daily Rate Event Rate Monthly Rate
City/County Lots (Residents)
Free to public from
7am to 6pm (except Free Free $20.00 -- --
Blackstock Lot (Main) 364 City PBA events)
Blackstock Lot A/B 57 City PBA Monthly parking only -- -- $20.00 $55 $55
World Fair North Lot 100 City PBA No overnight parking Free Free $20.00 -- --
No overnight parking
Free 4-hour N/A (4-hour
without monthly $20.00 $55 $35
parking limit)
Fort Kid Lot 76 City PBA parking permit
PBA Fort Sanders Lot Total 597
Source: PBA, 2023; City of Knoxville, 2023
12
On-Street Summary
Like most of Downtown, on-street paid parking is enforced Monday through Saturday between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Because Fort Sanders is affected by the confluence of parking demand from the University of Tennessee, Fort
Sanders Medical Center, and Downtown and the World’s Fair, there isn’t an easily-defined ‘core’ where parking is
in the highest demand. Instead, a mix of 30-minute, 1-hour, 2-hour, and 10-hour metered parking is found
patchworked throughout this study area. Short-term 15-minute parking stalls have not been deployed in Fort
Sanders.
Generally, paid parking is in effect on the block north and south of Cumberland Avenue and around the Fort
Sanders Medical Center, and parking is free north of Clinch Avenue. Street parking within the University of
Tennessee boundary is primarily managed by their parking and transporta�on department.
Figure 10: Fort Sanders On-Street Metered Parking Inventory by Time Limit
350
300
250 229
200
150
120
100
50 24
8
0
30min 1hr 2hr 10hr
The hourly parking rates are the same as Downtown, as follows in Table 6.
Table 6: Fort Sanders On-Street Parking Rates by Time Limit
Meter Time Limit Hourly Parking

Rate
30-min $0.75/hr
1-hour $1.50/hr
2-hour $1.50/hr
10-hour $0.30/hr
13
Parking Occupancy
The Walker team reviewed previously conducted parking studies as well as daily occupancy reports from the six
public garages that PBA manages to understand how u�lized Knoxville’s public parking facili�es are during
weekends and weekdays.
The City of Knoxville commissioned a parking study from S&ME in 2021 to understand parking availability around
the upcoming baseball stadium project. S&ME conducted parking counts for all on-street, private, and public off-
street parking facili�es within a mile of the stadium development, including three weekday counts and one
weekend count during an event (Knoxville Brewfest) in August. Their primary finding was that on an average
weekday, only 30% of spaces in PBA-managed garages and 11% of spaces in the Coliseum garages were
occupied. On the average busy weekend, 57% of spaces in PBA-managed garages and 19% of spaces in the
Coliseum garages were occupied. As a result, S&ME concluded that there is sufficient available
parking within a half-mile radius of the stadium development and that addi�onal
stadium parking would not be necessary to support mobility to the Stadium.
S&ME also provided maps showing average u�liza�on of street parking and off-street lots and garages during the
weekday and weekend counts. Figure 12 shows that on weekdays, almost every facility downtown was less than
50% occupied except for the Market Square Garage. On weekends (shown in Figure 13), a few parking garages
and lots are shown as over 50% occupied, but Market Square Garage was the only public garage that was over
75% occupied.
Finally, most on-street spaces in the downtown were over 75% occupied in both the weekend and weekday
counts, which Walker also observed during our site visit in November 2023. While parking may appear limited
because on-street spaces are heavily u�lized, the following analysis of off-street parking will show that there is
ample parking in off-street facili�es, even during �mes of peak parking demand.
14
Figure 11: Weekday U�liza�on of Public and Private Parking around Baseball Stadium Site
Source: S&ME, 2021
15
Figure 12: Weekend U�liza�on of Public and Private Parking around Baseball Stadium Site
Source: S&ME, 2021
Public Parking Structure Occupancy

The project team reviewed occupancy reports provided by PBA for the period of January 2023 through July 2023
repor�ng daily peak demand for each facility. In Walker’s review of these occupancy reports, we observed that
there is a localized parking deficit in some areas but a significant oversupply of parking across the system. As
16
an example, this means that more parkers want to park at the Market Square Garage or on Gay Street than there
are available spaces, but there are plenty of available spaces in other public parking facili�es located nearby.
Weekday Parking Demand

On weekdays, the 677-space Market Square Garage (MSG) typically reaches its peak occupancy at 6 p.m. or 7
p.m. when it is free to park. Peak occupancy goes above 90% about 6 or 7 �mes a month, and it may become
increasingly frustra�ng for drivers to park once occupancy is above 90% in garages without parking guidance
systems since drivers begin to circle and compete for remaining spots. Average peak parking occupancy by
month (shown on the orange line) ranges from 73% to 83%, which are much higher than other public garages in
the area.
In contrast, the 1,497-space State Street Garage (SSG) is only three blocks away from MSG on the other side of
Market Square and Gay Street and has much greater availability. Peak occupancy on earlier days of the week
(Monday, Tuesday) is typically in the early a�ernoon, and is usually reached on days later in the week (Thursday,
Friday) around 7 p.m. SSG’s peak occupancy exceeded 90% less than weekday per month. Average peak parking
occupancy by month ranges between 56% and 64%.
The 964-space Dwight Kessel Garage has even more availability on weekdays. It is located in the southeast corner
of downtown, but s�ll within walking des�na�on of major atrac�ons and employment centers. Since few
parkers are currently using this garage to access restaurants and evening atrac�ons, it typically reaches peak
occupancy in the morning. It never exceeded 60% occupancy in the four-month period between April and July
2023 (occupancy data before April was not collected/provided). Average peak parking occupancies by month
range between 41% and 47%.
Figures 14, 15, and 16 show daily peak occupancy for the MSG, SSG, and DKG between January 1 and July 30,
2023. These garages represent a sampling of City Garages with the Market Square Garage as the highest-u�lized,
the Dwight Kessel Garage as the least-u�lized, and the State Street Garage in the middle. Note that there are a
few blanks where data was not collected or was erroneous. Occupancy data collec�on began at the DKG on
March 25, 2023. Orange lines represent average daily peak occupancies by month.
17
Figure 13: Market Square Garage's Peak Daily Occupancy on Weekdays, January 2023 to July 2023
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Source: PBA, 2023
Figure 14: State Street Garage's Peak Daily Occupancy on Weekdays, January 2023 to July 2023
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Source: PBA, 2023
18
Figure 15: Dwight Kessel Garage's Peak Daily Occupancy on Weekdays, January 2023 to July 2023
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Source: PBA, 2023
Weekend Parking Demand

We observe similar trends on weekends where Market Square Garage is heavily u�lized while other public
garages are underu�lized. Average weekend occupancies at the MSG in February, March, April, and July were at
or exceeded 90%, which again contributes to parker frustra�on when looking for a space in this facility. Peak
weekend occupancy typically occurs around noon.
For the State Street Garage, average weekend peak parking occupancies by month range between 41% and 69%.
The most frequent �me of peak occupancy is at 7:00 p.m.
The Dwight Kessel Garage sees minimal weekend use. Out of all weekends between April and July 2023, it was
never more that 11% occupied, with typical monthly occupancy ranging between 6% and 9%. It typically reaches
peak occupancy in the a�ernoon. This means that whenever it feels like there is no parking downtown because
the on-street spaces and spaces in the MSG are completely occupied, there are consistently 800 to 900 available
spaces just in the DKG.
19
Figure 16: Market Square Garage's Peak Daily Occupancy on Weekends, January 2023 to July 2023
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
January February March April May June July
Source: PBA, 2023

Figure 17: State Street Garage's Peak Daily Occupancy on Weekends, January 2023 to July 2023
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Source: PBA, 2023
20
Figure 18: Dwight Kessel Garage's Peak Daily Occupancy on Weekends, January 2023 to July 2023
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Source: PBA, 2023
Exis�ng Mobility Condi�ons

Popula�on and employment in central Knoxville are expected to con�nue swi� growth over the next five years,
which will generate more daily trips. While this typically leads to increased traffic conges�on and longer
commutes, these detrimental impacts can be significantly reduced if most new trips are made using modes of
transporta�on that do not use single-occupancy vehicles such as walking, public transporta�on, biking,
scootering, and carpooling. The following is a brief overview of these non-car transporta�on modes in
Downtown and Fort Sanders.
Walking
Regardless of how somebody arrives in Downtown or Fort Sanders, part of their journey includes walking. As
shown earlier in Figure 3, approximately 15% of all trips in Downtown and 20% in Fort Sanders are made solely
by walking. But even other travel modes rely on walking for at least a por�on of a trip- transit users need to walk
to and from bus stops, and micro-mobility users need to walk to access bike or scooter parking corrals. Likewise,
drivers also need to walk between their parking loca�ons and final des�na�ons. Therefore, ensuring that walking
is easy and comfortable should lie at the heart of any parking and mobility policy.
Market Street and Gay Street are the most comfortable streets to walk on in Downtown because they are
rela�vely busy with more eyes on the street, have wider sidewalks, have storefronts and interes�ng things to see
along the way, and provide quality ligh�ng and adequate shade from buildings and street trees. These ameni�es
make it safer to access stores and parks for all users, and especially assists those with mobility challenges. For
21
those without mobility challenges, walking a few blocks down Gay Street or Market Street goes by in a breeze
and feels very pleasant.
The main issue iden�fied with walking in the study area is that ge�ng across major intersec�ons increases
walking �me, feels uncomfortable, and leads to the percep�on that places are farther away than they actually
are. For example, the Coliseum’s Garage A is less than a 2,000-foot walking distance away from the Tennessee
Theater but is o�en thought of as being too far away because the James White Parkway creates a barrier.
Likewise, Henley Street and Summit Hill Drive are wide boulevards that create barriers between Downtown, Fort
Sanders, and Old City.
Public Transporta�on
Knoxville Area Transit (KAT) is the public transporta�on
operator in Knoxville. It operates 23 fixed bus routes, a
football shutle service, LIFT paratransit, and three free
downtown trolley routes. Over 80,000 people live
within a quarter mile of a KAT bus stop.
KAT has been undergoing a planning process called KAT

Reimagined with a focus on consolida�ng routes and
offering greater frequency on four primary corridors.
Under this plan, the three trolley routes will be
eliminated in place of a Downtown Connector that
would connect the Coliseum, KAT Transit Center,
Downtown, and Old City. Under current plans, the
Downtown Connector will have 12-minute headways
and cost one dollar ($1.00) per ride. Busses on the Downtown Connector will be electric with more comfortable
sea�ng and electric outlets. Several community members expressed frustra�on about the loss of the iconic free
trolleys and were not aware of the Downtown Connector replacement.
The system currently has three million riders annually and expects five million riders a�er KAT Reimagined is
implemented. Most current riders use the bus because they do not have other transporta�on op�ons, but with
greater frequency along core routes, KAT is aiming to atract riders who otherwise would come downtown by
single-occupancy vehicle. The system recently partnered with a mobile payment vendor and plans to eventually
become a cashless opera�on by offering reloadable smart cards. A cashless opera�on would make boarding
more efficient and allow for faster trips.
22
On gamedays, four special football shutle routes
operate between the Neyland Stadium and the
Coliseum, Old City, Market Square, and the Farragut
High School parking lot. Riders purchase wristbands and
a roundtrip �cket costs $10 per person. Shutles begin
opera�ng 3 hours before kickoff and return shutles
operate from the beginning of the 4th quarter un�l 60
minutes a�er the game ends.
Besides KAT, the University of Tennessee operates

numerous off-campus shutles to student housing in
Fort Sanders and farther areas.
Biking and Scootering

Knoxville partnered with two scooter-share services to offer public scooters in 2021. Currently, Bird is the sole
operator of Knoxville’s scooter share network. Typical daily demand is 300 to 400 rides, with nearly 600 daily
riders during the peak ‘back-to-school’ season. According to the City’s micro-mobility manager, Downtown
Knoxville has higher rates of scooter-share usage than peer ci�es.
Figure 19: Average Daily Scooter-share Trips by Month, January 2023 - October 2023
596
600
500
401
400 374 367 378
312 306 311

286
300
200
130
100
0
January February March April May June July August September October
The city created a survey in 2021 to understand the impacts of the scooter program on vehicle trips and sidewalk
cluter. The survey found that 16% of 150 respondents had reduced the amount of personal car use because of
e-scooters. A majority of riders have local area codes, meaning that the scooters are used by residents rather
than visitors. Another study from the University of Tennessee found that about 80% of the scooters’ riders use
the program to get between two des�na�ons rather than joyriding.
23
An issue iden�fied in the city survey was that
scooters were clutering up the sidewalks. The city
has remedied this by crea�ng scooter corrals in
place of a few street parking spaces and now has 15
corrals across the study area that can each hold
about 10 scooters. The project team observed that
corrals on Gay Street and Market Square were
regularly used throughout the day. There are racks
for bicycle parking within the public garages,
although these are not used frequently. In retail
corridors like on Gay Street and Jackson Avenue,
there are also standard single-space posts to lock a
bike onto.
Figure 20: Bike and Scooter Infrastructure
Source: Knoxville Regional TPO, 2023
24
As Figure 22 shows below, Clinch Avenue, Volunteer Boulevard, and Gay Street are the busiest streets for micro-
mobility use. Clinch Avenue and Volunteer Boulevard have signed shared bike lanes (sharrows), while Gay Street
is a designated signed bike route that does not feature sharrows or bike lanes.
Figure 21: Popularity of Bike and Scooter Travel Routes
Source: Populus, 2023
Overall, there is adequate already developed biking and scootering infrastructure in downtown. Knoxville should
look to peer college towns like Madison, WI and Boulder, CO for examples and leadership if it desires to take the
next step in fostering a built-in culture of developing bike and scooter infrastructure and support its Vision Zero
goals of elimina�ng traffic fatali�es on city-controlled roads by 2040.
Carpooling and Carsharing

Like every major city, Knoxville has a transporta�on planning organiza�on (TPO) that assists commuters and
promotes transporta�on demand management (TDM) prac�ces. The Knoxville TPO website adver�ses Turo as a
25
carshare network where members can use a fleet of shared vehicles located in the city. It encourages carpooling
through the Waze app and dis�nguishes two free public park-and-ride lots at Farragut Park and Lenoir City. There
are no dedicated carpool spaces in Downtown garages.
Exis�ng Parking and Mobility Condi�ons Summary

In summary, there is currently an ample supply of parking almost all the �me in central Knoxville. It just is not
always in parkers’ preferred loca�ons. There are opportuni�es for parking management to distribute this parking
demand across the downtown, increase turnover of desirable on-street parking spaces, and beter communicate
where available parking is to monthly and transient parking users. The specifics of this will be provided in the
recommenda�ons sec�on of the final report.
Considering the larger picture of mobility in Knoxville, there is opportunity to improve and support beter
alterna�ve transporta�on op�ons. Ensuring that walking or using a bike, bus or scooter is easy and accessible
across the Downtown and Fort Sanders study areas will improve parking condi�ons and support greater travel
op�ons for everybody. As both the metro area and central Knoxville con�nue to grow and Knoxville is expected
to lose some of its private parking assets, it will be prudent to invest in transporta�on demand management
strategies (TDM) in addi�on to improving its parking management prac�ces. A sophis�cated and coordinated
parking and transporta�on department is essen�al to con�nue to offer excellent accessibility and customer
service for the growing Downtown Knoxville community.
26

Downtown Parking Study 2024 Final

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6602 E. 75th Street, Suite 210

May 10, 2024

Thomas G. Szubka, CAPP, CPP

Cheryl Ball, Chief Policy Officer

Chip Barry, Deputy COO, Downtown Coordination

Mark Elliott, Parking and Traffic Manager

Rebekah Jane Justice, Chief of Urban Design and Development

Kittrin Smith, Finance Deputy Director

Grant Rosenberg, COO

Carter Hall, Policy

Liz Albertson, City Planner

Xiangyu (Stephanie) Fang, Finance

Public Building Authority

Jayne Burritt, CEO

Alex Fusaro, Security Supervisor

Dusty Fox, Parking Services Manager

Downtown Knoxville Alliance

Michele Hummel, Executive Director

ASM Global (Civic Center Auditorium and Coliseum)

Misti Satterfield, Assistant General Manager

Knoxville Area Transit

Chris Caldwell, Chief Financial Officer/ Co-Chief of Staff

Additionally, this report relied on the input and involvement of hundreds of

Downtown Knoxville is a vibrant and

This report and recommendations should

Operations & Technology

Communication , Branding, & Wayfinding

Each category of analysis follows a standard format:

Evaluation Recommendations Action Items

Appendix A: Phase 1 Task Report / Current Parking and Mobility Conditions

Appendix B: Public Parking Survey Results

PARKING SYSTEM EVALUATION 5

Parking Land Use

Downtown Parking Inventory

There are a combined 9,734+ public parking

Parking Occupancy and Availability

PARKING SYSTEM EVALUATION 7

Market Square Garage (MSG) Weekday Peak Occupancy, 2023

State Street Garage (SSG) Weekday Peak Occupancy, 2023

PARKING SYSTEM EVALUATION 9

Historic 5-year Parking Fund Performance (Excluding Capital Investments)

General Fund Transfer $1,600,000 $0 $2,150 $130,000 $639,950 $2,372,100

Net Operating Income

Source: City of Knoxville

Listening Session Overview

• Walkable downtown • Traffic congestion downtown

Downtown Business Focus Group Perceptions

• Growing downtown means more foot • Employee parking is expensive

PARKING SYSTEM EVALUATION 13

Hospitality and Tourism Focus Group Perceptions

• Free parking nights and weekend • Lack of awareness of parking options,

PARKING SYSTEM EVALUATION 15

Respondents were asked about their

PARKING SYSTEM EVALUATION 17

Downtown street parking is managed by the City of Knoxville’s Transportation Engineering

Source: City of Knoxville

Capital Budgeting: A comprehensive multi- Key Performance Indicators: Without a City

PARKING SYSTEM EVALUATION 19

Evolution of Parking and Access around Market Square

Process Standardization: Clear policies Distribution of Parking Demand:

PARKING SYSTEM EVALUATION 21

Garage Cashier Staffing: Exit lanes are staffed

PARKING SYSTEM EVALUATION 23