University of Duhok

College of Engineering
Civil Department
Fourth Year Students
2019-2020

Traffic Engineering
Lecture 9

Lecturer: Dr. Nasreen A. Hussein

Parking Studies
Parking is one of the major problems that is created by increasing road
traffic. The availability of less space in urban areas has increased the
demand for:
• Parking space especially in areas like Central Business District
• In areas where land uses include (business, residential, or commercial)
places.
• Parking studies are used to determine the demand for and the supply of
parking facilities.
 Parking system
1. On street parking: on street parking means the vehicles are parked on
the sides of the street itself. Common types of on-street parking are as
listed below. This classification is based on the angle in which the
vehicles are parked with respect to the road alignment.

 Parallel parking: The vehicles are parked along the length of the road.
The length available to park N number of vehicles is:

  L
N=
5. 9
 30◦ parking: In thirty degree parking, the vehicles are parked at 30◦ with
respect to the road alignment. In this case, more vehicles can be parked
compared to parallel parking. Also there is better maneuverability. Delay
caused to the traffic is also minimum in this type of parking.
 
  L− 0 .58
N=
5
 45◦ parking: As the angle of parking increases, more number of vehicles
can be parked. Hence compared to parallel parking and thirty degree
parking, more number of vehicles can be accommodated in this type of
parking.
  L− 1. 77
N=
3 . 54
 60◦ parking: The vehicles are parked at 60◦ to the direction of road. More
number of vehicles can be accommodated in this parking type.

  L− 2. 16
N=
2. 89
 Right angle parking: In right angle parking or 90◦ parking, the vehicles are
parked perpendicular to the direction of the road. In this type of parking, the
vehicles need complex maneuvering and this may cause severe accidents.
This arrangement causes obstruction to the road traffic particularly if the road
width is less. However, it can accommodate maximum number of vehicles for
a given curb length.

  L
N=
2. 5
1. Off street parking: In many urban centers, some areas are exclusively
selected for parking which will be at some distance away from the main
stream of traffic. Such a parking is referred to as off-street parking. They
may be operated by either public agencies or private firms. There are two
types of off-street parking: Surface lots and Garages.
Garages can be classified by general type into:
1. Above ground
2. Under ground
3. Integral

Garages can be classified by means of inter-floor travel into:

1. Mechanical
2. Ramps

Off-street facilities by method of operation can be classified into:

1. Attendant parking
2. Self-parking
Off-street facilities in terms of ownership can be classified into:
1. Privately owned and operated
2. Publicly owned and privately operated
3. Publicly owned and operated

Parking lots must be designed to achieve the following objectives:

1. Provide maximum number of spaces
2. Minimize travel discomfort while parking and driving between lots
3. Minimize interference of entrance and exit lanes with pedestrian
and vehicle movements external to the lot
 
 Negative effects of parking
Parking has some ill-effects like congestion, accidents, pollution, obstruction
to fire-fighting operations etc.
1. Congestion: Parking takes considerable street space leading to the lowering
of the road capacity. Hence, speed will be reduced, journey time and delay
will also subsequently increase. The operational cost of the vehicle
increases leading to great economical loss to the community.

2. Accidents: Careless maneuvering of parking and unparking leads to accidents

which are referred to as parking accidents. Common type of parking accidents
occur while driving out a car from the parking area, careless opening of the
doors of parked cars, and while bringing in the vehicle to the parking lot for
parking.
3. Environmental pollution:  They also cause pollution to the environment
because stopping and starting of vehicles while parking and unparking
results in noise and fumes.

4. Obstruction to firefighting operations:  Parked vehicles may obstruct the

movement of firefighting vehicles. Sometimes they block access to
buildings.
Definition of Parking Terms
Space-hour: is the use of a single parking space for a period of one hour.
Parking volume: is the total number of vehicles that park in a study area
during a specific length of time, usually a day.
Turnover: the average number of times that a parking space is used by
different vehicles during a given period of time. Obtained by dividing the
parking volume for a specified period by the number of parking spaces.

If 10 spaces used by 100 vehicles,

Turnover=100/10=10 vehicles per space
Parking accumulation: is the number of parked vehicles in a study area at any
specified time.
Parking load: the number of space-hours used during the specified period of
time.
Parking duration: is the length of time the vehicle is parked at a parking bay.
Average parking duration is the ratio of total vehicle hours to the number of
vehicles parked.
Parking index: Parking index is also called occupancy or efficiency. It is
defined as the ratio of number of bays occupied in a time duration to the
total space available. It gives a measure of how effectively the parking space
is utilized. Parking index can be found out as follows:
Example: To illustrate the various measures, consider a small example in
figure below which shows the duration for which each of the bays are
occupied (shaded portion). Now the accumulation graph can be plotted by
simply noting the number of bays occupied at time interval of 15, 30, 45 etc.
minutes is shown in the figure.
Solution:
The various measures are calculated as shown below:
 Parking volume is given as 5 vehicles.
 Parking load is given as (1+2+1+0+1+2+3+1) 15/60= (11×15)/60 = 2.75 veh
hour
 Average parking duration is computed as 2.75 veh hours/5 veh=33 min
 Parking turnover is obtained as (5 veh/2 hours)/3 bays= 0.83 veh/hr/bay
 Parking index is calculated as
 
Methodology of Parking Studies
To carry out a parking study, it is necessary to have information on the
following points:
1. Inventory of existing parking facilities.
2. Collection of data on parking accumulation, parking turnover, and parking
duration.
3. Identification of parking generators.
4. Collection of information on parking demand.
5. Information on related factors, such as financial, legal, and administrative
matters, may also be collected.
Prohibited Parking
It is desirable to prohibit parking at certain locations and for a period to ensure
safety and convenience. Such locations are:
1. Near intersections:
It is general practice to prohibit parking for a distance of about 50 m.
2. Narrow streets:
In busy streets of the central area, it is generally desirable to prohibit parking on
two-way street <5.75 m wide and one-way streets<4.0 m wide.
3. Pedestrian crossing:
It is desirable to prohibit parking within about 8m from the pedestrian crossing.
4. Structures:
Bridges, tunnels, underpass ….
5. Entrance driveways
Prohibit parking in front of entrance driveways