Urban places and transportation planning to help several communities across the state optimize their parking usage

Massachusetts DHCD Parking Studies

Cities and towns across Massachusetts struggle with the perception that there isn’t enough parking when there are often hundreds of unused spaces. Stantec works with these communities to understand when and where parking crunches exist and whether the existing system can be adjusted to better support current and future needs.

Our studies include a comprehensive parking inventory with both on- and off-street as well as privately and publicly owned parking. This is coupled with counts of parked vehicles throughout a week, geocoded to help identify demand patterns. We also facilitate targeted stakeholder interviews and lead public workshops to identify issues and opportunities. For some communities, we focus on planning for imminent development and how flexible zoning and creative uses of existing parking can encourage downtown-friendly land use changes. These recommendations are backed up by a land use analysis and the parking counts to create a downtown specific parking demand ratio. Other resources focus on management strategies to rationalize existing systems, such as wayfinding, information, technology, and pricing.

Each community receives a tailored management plan, although all include solutions that balance the needs of user groups ranging from summer tourists in Rockport, to office employees in Shrewsbury, to residents in Methuen.