Complete Parking Lot Design

Jerry D. Morrow, P.E.

Course Outline

• INTRODUCTION

• PARKING LOT DESIGN

• HANDICAPPED ACCESSIBLE PARKING

• FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT SYSTEM

• SIDEWALKS AND RAMPS

• SHUTTLE BUS STOPS

• SECURITY

• DRAINAGE

• LIGHTING

• STRIPING AND MARKING

• PARKING BARRIERS

• LANDSCAPING

• MAINTENANCE AND REPAIRPARKING LOT DESIGN

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will learn

• Pedestrian and Vehicular Circulation - Circulation patterns should be as obvious and simple as possible.   All likely pedestrian routes should be considered in the design phase to eliminate “short cuts” which will eventually damage landscaped areas.
• Handicapped Accessible Parking Spaces - The location, size, and number of handicapped parking spaces should conform to the latest building codes, state and federal laws.
• Parking Lot Layout - Drives that do not allow parking within the driveway right-of-way are normally 24’ for two-way traffic and 12’ for one-way traffic.  For drives serving thirty (30) or fewer vehicles and where parking is not provided on either side, the width for two-way drives can be reduced to twenty-two (22) feet.
• Grading - Grading on new project sites should blend with the contours of adjacent properties. Proposed cut and fill slopes should be rounded off both horizontally and vertically. When designing a grading plan, balancing the cut and fill is highly encouraged when it does not result in further damage to the natural topography.
• Thickness Design For Parking Lots - Design thicknesses are minimum values calculated on the volume and type of traffic that will use the facility and on the load-supporting capability of the underlying soils. Special truck lanes are sometimes required to expedite traffic to loading areas, trash dumpster sites, and equipment areas.
• Sidewalks and Ramps - Sidewalks should be 6’-0” wide, 5” thick, with ¼” per foot transverse slope, be installed on a compacted 2” thick sand base cushion, and reinforced with 6/6 -10/10 welded wire mesh.  Walks designated as fire lanes must be at least 6” thick. Transitions from ramps to walks, gutters, or streets should be flush and free of abrupt changes.  Maximum slopes of adjoining gutters, road surface immediately adjacent to the curb ramp, or accessible route should not exceed 1:20.
• Barrier Gates - Barrier gates are a means of increasing security by restricting use of parking spaces to those individuals with pre-approved permission to park in a specific lot. Gates can be a two-way gate system or a single card gate with a separate controlled egress.
• Drainage - All parking lots shall be designed to develop proper site drainage, directed at the disposal of all storm water accumulated on the site. Parking lots which contain an area of 2,500 square feet or more and which are located within 150 feet of an existing storm sewer or other drainage way, including an open channel or creek, should be designed to direct storm water runoff into such storm sewers or drainage ways.
• Green Considerations - Porous asphalt pavements offer developers and planners a new tool in their toolbox for managing storm water runoff.  These pavements, used mostly for parking lots, allow water to drain through the pavement surface into a stone recharge bed and infiltrate into the soils below the pavement. Such pavements have been proving their worth since the mid-1970s, and recent changes in storm water regulations have prompted many consulting engineers and public works officials to work more with them. Vegetation is an effective and attractive way to reduce runoff, and smaller parking lots free up more space for landscaping.
• Lighting - Parking lot lighting is vital for traffic safety, for protection against assault, theft and vandalism, for convenience and for comfort to the user.  Lighting on parking lots can be designed to provide the minimum lighting necessary to ensure adequate vision and comfort while being arranged so as not to cause visual interference on public thoroughfares or encroach on the visual privacy of adjacent building occupants.
• Marking And Striping - The project design drawings must include a detailed and accurately scaled parking lot layout clearly showing the location of parking spaces and aisles. The criteria are discussed and recommendations made for consideration by the designer.
• Parking Barriers - All parking areas and spaces should be provided with bumper barriers, wheel stops, or wheel stop curbing designed to prevent parked vehicles from extending beyond the property lines, damaging adjacent landscaping, walls or buildings, or overhanging sidewalk areas.   Each handicapped accessible parking space without a curb stop should be furnished with a parking barrier.  Barriers should not block the access aisles between handicapped accessible spaces.
• Landscaping of Parking Areas - Vehicular parking areas should be both functionally and aesthetically pleasing.  The overall goals of implementing these requirements are to enhance, beautify, and improve the environmental and climatic impact of surface parking lots and to minimize the vast, barren character of existing and future parking areas while providing efficient parking, vehicular circulation and safe pedestrian access.  Large canopy trees should dominate the parking areas for shade and shrubs along the perimeter should be provided for screening.  Additional information is included in the discussion of environmental issues.
• Maintenance and Repair - All pavements require maintenance.  They need this attention because stresses producing minor defects are constantly at work.  These stresses may be caused by traffic loads, temperature fluctuations, or by changes in moisture content in the soil.  Regardless of the cause, the result is the same.   Without timely maintenance the pavement ultimately deteriorates.   Preventive maintenance means the early detection and repair of minor defects, before major corrective action is necessary.   It is the only proper way to care for a parking lot

Intended Audience

The intended audience should be engineers and planners interested in improving parking lot design and expanding on local regulations.  Consideration is given to environmental and “green” design.

Benefit to Attendees

This course offers designers and planners an additional package of information to consider in planning and designing parking lots.  Often, without additional cost, positive features can be added to fill otherwise empty area, address environmental factors and even add additional parking.

Course Introduction

The design of a culvert is influenced by cost, hydraulic efficiency, purpose, and the topography at the proposed culvert site. Thus physical data must be integrated with engineering and economic considerations. The information contained in this chapter should give the design engineer the ability to design culverts taking into account the factors that influence their design and selection.  While computer programs are often used for design, the input data requires knowledge what effects the data has and what conditions must be evaluated.  While most of the recommendations made herein are commonly accepted, they are the opinion of the writer and local standards will always prevail.

Course Content

This course content is in the following PDF document:

Complete Parking Lot Design

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Course Summary

Parking lot design involves many considerations.  All too often the only consideration for the design is developing a sufficient parking area to meet the required number of vehicles based on adjacent occupancy.  Local regulations will dictate many of the planning and design decisions made by the planner or designer.  This class presents ideas and methodologies for many concepts that could be inconsistent with these local requirements.  Often, these ordinances are a minimum requirement and consideration can be given to other concepts. 

Related Links and References

Center for Watershed Protection. 2000. "An Introduction to Better Site Design" in Watershed Protection Techniques. Vol. 3, No. 2. Ellicott City, MD.

Center for Watershed Protection.   1998. Better Site Design: A Handbook for Changing Development Rules in Your Community. Ellicott City, MD.

University of Houston,  Guidelines and Standards Parking Lot Design Standards. Jul 2, 2012
Schueler, Tom. 1995.

Site Planning for Urban Stream Protection. Center for Watershed Protection, Silver Spring, MD.
Valley Branch Watershed District. 2000. Alternative Stormwater Best Management Practices Guidebook.  Lake Elmo, MN.

Well, Cedar. 1994. Skinny Streets and One-Sided Sidewalks: A Strategy for Not Paving Paradise in Water- shed Protection Techniques, Vol 1. No 3. Center for Watershed Protection. Ellicott City, Md.

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

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DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.

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