Edmonton (Alta.) - 1953 - The nature of parking and traffic_a miscellany_a supplementary report

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THE CITY OF

EDMONTON

THE NATURE OF PARKING AND TRAFFIC A SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT

A MISCELLANY PREPARED BY

NOEL DANT _ • A.R.I.R.A., A.M.T.P.I., M. ARCH., M.R.P. TOWN PLANNER

THE CITY OF EDMONTON EDMONTON, ALBERTA

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COMPILED AND EDITED APRIL, 1953

CA

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I am greatly indebted to Mr. Bill Hobbs of Winnipeg for much of the original research on parking.

-NOEL DANT

THE NATURE OF PARKING AND TRAFFIC Page

A MISCELLANY Contents

1. A Pattern For Parking

4

2. The Parking Problem and its Relationship to the Highway

28

3. General-Use Traffic Studies

34

4. Specific-Use Traffic Studies

37

PAGE THREE

A PATTERN FOR PARKING

Presented to the Council of The City of Edmonton in February, 1951.

A PATTERN FOR PARKING The problem involved in finding adequate space for parking automotive vehicles in downtown and other urban areas has become more and more pronounced in recent years until at this time, most cities and larger towns look upon this as their No. 1 problem. The growth of this problem has been consistent with the progressive increase in the use of the automobile, and the accompanying developments in extending hard surfaced road systems in urban and rural areas, particularly in recent years.

It is apparent, and now generally accepted, that the parking problem will not solve itself, but will get progressively worse unless adequate steps are taken to cope with it. This problem is not peculiar to a few cities, but it is found in all cities and larger towns, and even in smaller centres of populations, but in less acute form. Parking conditions are generally bad now, but with automobile production abnormal, or at any rate in extreme increasing numbers, chaotic conditions may be anticipated in many places in the near future.

It is not intended to say that efforts have not been made to cope with this problem. Different means of ameliorating conditions have been devised in different places, but these attempts have been mainly of a piecemeal order which did not consider the whole problem or aim at solving it completely, and it is fair to state that the over-all comprehensive plan to meet present and future parking needs for any large city, such as Edmonton, has yet to be effected.

The purpose of this paper is to point out the fact that whereever a public parking problem is encountered, it always embodies certain characteristics which combine to form a common pattern, and the essential features of this pattern are always present whether the cases occur in urban or rural areas. It is submitted that these main features should be identified and appropriately dealt with in all schemes or arrangements which are designed to meet parking requirements adequately. Several general cases will be examined to indicate this and what is implied.

INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS Since the earliest times when primitive men began to wear paths along commonly travelled routes, general ideas about the functions and uses of public ways, as well as the rights of people travelling along them, have been emerging, developing, and changing. At first, the clearing of obstructions, providing means for crossing streams and the like had to be attended to by those who must pass along these routes, but as time passed, settlements developed, and people became more civilized, roads were constructed by larger groups for the purpose of communications, trade, or military necessity, and with them appropriate regulations for their use, conforming to current opinion, usages and facilities of the times. Normally these regu-

lations were modified to conform to changing ideas and circumstances as time passed.

Nor was it a case of providing for moving traffic alone.

Vehicles had to stop for various reasons and purposes; adjustments to harness or vehicles might be necessary; horses had to be given a rest on steep grades, drivers had to make a call at some house in the village, at a store or the blacksmith's shop, or at some farmer's home enroute. Longer stops might be required in front of inns where travellers obtained refreshments or even spent the night. Universally, the land taken for the highways was appreciably wider than the travelled roadway PAGE FOUR

itself, so that those who needed to make longer than temporary stops could get off the roadway without impeding traffic or trespassing on private property. This also allowed roadways to be widened laterally right up to the fronts of inns, stores, and other places of common resort where numbers of the vehicle travelling public might want to stop for a while on occasions.

Wherever there were settlements and communities, there had to be roads, and so as to meet public needs, King's Highways and Public Roads came into being. In the final analysis, the public has always decided what public road services it wants, what road improvements shall be provided, what rights the travellers on roads shall have, and how the traffic on them shall be regulated.

The coming of the automobiles has not changed the publics' ideas about the function of highways and roads to any appreciable extent, though the volume of traffic has increased enormously; and the increases in speed generally, and differences in velocity of vehicles using the highways, has called for greater caution, wider roadways, and better defined and more detailed traffic regulations, covering standing as well as moving vehicles. The customs of centuries under the horse-drawn vehicle conditions have established the right to stop on as well as move along highways, and if the first vehicles had been automobiles, no doubt this right would have asserted itself

just the same. As it is, the automobile travelling public has inherited it, but for the time being, standing vehicles are a bit of a problem a problem which has crept up on us! It will be generally accepted, however, that a man should have the right to stop his car in the front of his house to pick up his family, or to stop on a business street to make a purchase in a retail store, a businessman should be allowed to stop his car when he makes business calls, etc., etc. Of course, the requirements of moving traffic must be met, but for one in an automobile or other vehicle, in addition to moving, there must be a starting point and a destination point. It is not only necessary to initiate, but also to complete the purpose of each trip. For these and other reasons, such as giving access and service to properties adjoining roads, automobiles have to be brought to a standstill on public streets and highways, and left without occupants for a time. This is known as parking, and because in many places the volume of traffic is so great, and so many drivers want to park in certain localities for various reasons, but cannot find room to do so without delay and difficulty, if at all, we have what is commonly known as a parking problem.

Parking requirements in areas developed for different uses, the underlying characteristic fact which is common to all cases and how these requirements may be classified and provided for, will now be discussed.

PARKING IN RURAL AREAS Although we in Edmonton are not particularly concerned with the parking problem, if it may be called such, in rural areas, in order to give any comprehensive idea of the whole parking problem, the following paragraphs have been inserted for general interest.

Road systems in rural areas consist of truck highways, other main roads, and market and farm roads. These systems provide the means of transporting people and commodities

through areas, and from one point to another within them.

Market and farm roads are mainly for local traffic, and highways and mainroads for through as well as local traffic.

Obviously, rural residents must be served by highways or roads of whatever classification, which adjoin the property they occupy. These roads provide means of access to properties and for transportation between all or any of them—between farm and farm, or between farm and village, or town or city.

PAGE FIVE

Through-traffic requires facilities for continuous travel, yet all cars have to stop occasionally—to fill up with gasoline, to view some picturesque scene, to make calls, etc., and the provision of means of doing this easily and safely is essential.

Facilities for stopping and for the general convenience and safety of all who use highways or roads are prerequisites.

Roadways (i.e. the paved parts of highways or roads) should have width (traffic lanes) enough to accommodate the flow of moving traffic at all times and yet allow any car to be stopped at will after moving to the right of the roadway. In the interest of economy, regulations seldom permit parking on pavement in rural areas, as to do so would involve the construction of wider pavements throughout, but shoulders are provided on each side adjoining the pavement which enables cars to pull off for emergency or other reasons. Roadmen and farmers frequently leave their cars parked on shoulders for lengthy periods while they carry on their work. Where points of scenic or other interest occur, paving may be widened to enable cars

Off-highway Parking, Scenic Lookouts or Theoretic Short Term Parking Strips

PARKING IN URBAN AREAS Parts of urban areas are used for different purposes and these uses may be roughly classified into three main groups as residential, commercial and industrial.

to park clear of moving traffic lanes. In general, the use of these facilities contemplates temporary stops only but where cars are to be parked overnight or for days, it is recommended that they will be placed in a garage or in some farmer's yard off the road allowance altogether.

On lesser roads, the procedures are much the same, only roadways are narrower and there may be no paving. Shoulders are likely narrower and parking only partly thereon causes passing vehicles to turn out to clear them. Parking is more difficult here but is not often required and traffic is less. If a vehicle is to be left standing for some hours, the motorist will probably try to park his vehicle off the road altogether, at the side of the road allowance. In bad weather, however, he might have to park on the roadway.

It is clear from the foregoing that general traffic requirements in rural areas include facilities for short term parking as well as for moving traffic. It will be realized that "short term" parking may be of relatively longer duration in rural areas without harm or inconvenience to anyone than in more congested urban areas. "Long term" parking, however, is not countenanced within highway limits. Short term parking is recognized as forming a part of general traffic requirements, and traffic regulations and facilities on highways or roads permit and provide for it at public expense. On the other hand, long term parking must be effected off the road allowance altogether, at the expense of the owner of the vehicle.

Residential areas may be subdivided into two categories: (a) Single-family and duplex-dwelling areas. (b) Apartment building areas.

Parking in each of these will be considered separately.

PAGE SIX

PARKING IN SINGLE-FAMILY OR DUPLEX DWELLING AREAS The established practice in these areas show that improved roadways must be sufficiently wide to accommodate the short term parking of vehicles as well as at least one lane of moving traffic. Deliveries of various kinds have to be made to all dwellings, and these all involve parking. Through custom established long before the automobile was invented, each occupier takes for granted that he has the right to park his automobile on the roadway in front of his residence while he has lunch, etc., and to have his friends park there while they are visiting his home of an evening, and to do likewise when he visits the homes of his friends. There are a few urban sections, however, that prohibit 24-hour parking on any street for reasons associated with street cleaning, fire protection, etc., and so each occupier has to provide space for his automobile

off the street on private property, either on his own premises or elsewhere.

Here again, as in rural areas, provisions for general traffic requirements include facilities for short term parking, and should, I submit, be furnished by the city on the basis currently employed in providing and maintaining public improvements of the kind involved. In the case where residences abutt on to main highways, the problem is different from those that abutt on purely residential streets, and proper planning in providing service roads between the abutting housing and the highway and running parallel to the highway seems to offer the best solution. Another solution of lesser merit would be to provide parking bays for approximately six cars every block or so.

PARKING IN APARTMENT BUILDING ZONES Parking has become a very complex problem in many apartment building areas, and one which seems not to have been recognized until too late in the majority of the apartment projects built. It has been the cause of serious traffic congestion, and of reluctant countenancing by the authorities of all-night curb parking zones, particularily in some cities like Chicago, where conditions are particularly aggrevated. We, here in Edmonton, are faced with the same problem, as more and more apartments are being built.

Parking conditions generally are so bad in such cases that we may be well to approach the problem here by instigating adequate parking conditions in apartment building zones, or, better still, to consider what provisions should be made when the construction of new apartment buildings is contemplated, at the time that the architects bring up their plans for permits.

Apartment buildings vary greatly and each type needs individual consideration. Actually, parking requirements are

conditioned by the total floor area (or the number and accommodation of suites), and the street frontage of each apartment building. The type of apartment building tenants, insofar as it indicates likely automobile ownership, also has a bearing.

Long term parking will be required for automobiles owned by apartment suite occupants. It may be provided by garage accommodation included in the apartment building premises to meet the needs of tenants. If not, the tenants have to find accommodation for themselves in private garages, parking lots or elsewhere at their own expense. It is assumed that long term, or all-night curb parking on the street is prohibited. In any case long term parking should not be allowed in space required for short term parking.

Streets in residential districts should be wide enough to accommodate sidewalks, moving vehicle traffic and short term parking requirements. Beyond this, boulevards and tree planting strips, so desirable in these districts, call for further width.

PAGE SEVEN

Apart from through-traffic, essential street widths depend on the character and extent of abutting buildings. The more people there are in such buildings, the more pedestrian and vehicular traffic there will be, and the more short term parking will be required on the street. It follows then, that wider sidewalks and streets are required in apartment zones that in single-family dwelling zones; and in six-storey apartment building zones than in three-storey apartment building zones. If the street width and improvements therein were planned to meet the requirements of abutting apartment buildings, paving might be widened to allow for angle parking clear of moving traffic lanes, but this is not the best solution as it involves the backing of the vehicle into a stream of moving traffic in which possible sideswiping, etc., occur; or side roads in connection with the main roadway might run beside each apartment building to provide for short term parking. Even if side roads were to allow for angle parking on both sides, there still might not be room enough to meet short term parking requirements, as, in the case of apartment buildings, the amount of the street frontage per suite is so small, that Off-street parking in the vicinity (preferably on adjoining land) would have to be provided if the needs for short term parking are to be met. By this arrangement, some would park on the street at the curb, and the remainer would park on an Off-street parking lot in the vicinity of the apartment block project.

prohibitive. The alternative is continuing and increasing traffic congestion and public inconvenience — a cancerous growth which must be halted or death by strangulation will follow in due course. To know that the present conditions are the lack. of foresight or neglect, in times past, will not alter or improve them one bit, and this knowledge will only be profitable to evoke determination to provide proper conditions and surroundings for all future apartment building construction. "Proper conditions" may not only involve adequate street widths and spaces around buildings, but will also limit the height and total floor space of such buildings in view of available street widths, spaces around buildings, and parking accommodation. Herein lies the correlation between adequate zoning, adequate parking and adequate restrictions in the shape, height, size of buildings.

4‘A

APARTMENT BLOCK

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PARK INK

Consider for a moment what width of street these facilities would require, particularly in a many-storied apartment zone and then recall the width of streets commonly found in such areas. Usually, these street widths are much the same as in single-family dwelling areas, and can afford no room for the widening and paving or construction of side roads for short term parking. In most apartment building zones, nothing but the equivalent of a surgical operation can effect a cure. This means the appropriation of the land and often the demolition of buildings before the end of their usefulness, to provide Off-street short term parking areas, and the costs are likely to be steep, if not PAGE EIGHT

The responsibility of municipal authorities in these matters appears to me to be clear. Adequate provision of facilities to meet general traffic requirements has long been a public responsibility, and facilities for short term parking, as a feature of general traffic, should be included in that provision. Expropriation, or condemnation of property may be involved, and the power to do this is invested in municipal authorities and not in private groups. Whether the requirements of short term parking are met by space at the curb or by the provision of Off-street parking areas, the local improvement or benefit district method can be employed with advantage for financing and carrying out such projects, and the apportioning and levying of costs over a period of years on the basis of benefits received, in the same way as for other municipal public works and benefits.

How costs are apportioned will, of course, depend upon the circumstances in each case.

From the foregoing outline, it is apparent that in apartment building areas, the essential feature of the parking problem is

the same as in other types of various areas previously discussed, though usually the problem is much more aggrevated.

There are short term and long term parking requirements.

Owners and tenants in apartment building areas would have grounds for opposing any such suggestions that their parking requirements are not entitled to the same considerations as those in other essential areas. Provision of space for long term parking appears to me to be not a public responsibility, and this kind of parking should be prohibited on streets already strained to meet the needs of traffic and short term parking. The congestion in many existing apartment building zones calls for prompt attention, or it may be expected to grow worse. Grave difficulties are likely to be encountered in providing the short term parking in many cases. These should not be permitted to discourage or deter one, but should stimulate effort to remedy existing conditions, and ensuring adequate provisions for traffic and parking in the future by effective regulations and control of building developments in the public interest.

PARKING FOR SPECIAL BUILDINGS IN RESIDENTIAL AREAS The foregoing is a very brief outline of general parking requirements in residential areas. In addition to dwelling houses of various kinds which predominate in such areas, there are other buildings, such as churches, hospitals, libraries, etc., which may require special considerations, as a large volume of short term parking may be involved. For some of these institutions this may only be for an occasional period.

The scope of this paper is much too limited to go into

details such as this, so it must suffice to note in passing that buildings with special requirements will be encountered in many areas and to observe that the parking facilities in these areas must be dealt with according to circumstances in each case. The days of the week, and the time of the day at which parking requirements are at a peak, will have a bearing on what provision is needed. Other parts of this paper may suggest ideas about the general lines which should be followed in analyzing the parking in such cases.

PARKING IN INDUSTRIAL AREAS Manufacturing, storage, and industries may be divided roughly into three catagories, commonly known as light, heavy, warehouse and wholesale and also these three can be further

broken down by classifying them according to obnoxiousness or non-obnoxiousness.

The term 'Light' is applied to industries manufacturing PAGE NINE

small articles and commodities and in processing, assembling or in treatment of articles—the sort of plants that occupy buildings or parts of buildings near or in warehouse districts. Some kinds of repair and machine shops are included in this category, although at other times they are included in the heavy industry category. Material and storage yards of moderate size, wholesale business establishments, storage buildings and warehouses are included in the category wholesale-warehouse.

The term 'Heavy Industry' includes larger manufacturing and assembly plants, blast furnaces and foundaries, railroad yards and shops; and in general, plants comprising extensive buildings, machinery and equipment, used standing in their own yards, which are often quite spacious, and having more or less essential railroad or dock facilities. Larger material or piling yards are also included in this category.

PARKING IN LIGHT INDUSTRIAL AREAS AND IN WAREHOUSE-WHOLESALE AREAS There is a constant moving of commodities to and from factories and warehouses in these areas. Factories receive materials used in manufacturing or assembling, and in shipping their finished products. There is a constant flow of goods in and out of wholesale houses.

Deliveries and shipments of goods to and from such buildings may be divided into two categories: (a) Those which are loaded onto or unloaded from road transport, in the form of motor trucks or lorries, such loads usually being of a smaller volume and less bulky, (b) Those which are loaded directly onto or unloaded from freight cars or boats if the buildings are on a navigable waterfront.

Buildings used by firms whose businesses involve receiving and shipping in car lots must be located on railroad spurs (many of these are in the heavy industry category). Other businesses may involve shipments by railroads as well as shipments by car-lots, and in such cases the buildings occupied require both motor truck and railroading facilities. Other businesses again, are concerned with road haul only, any shipments by rail being accomplished by trucking goods from factory or warehouse to railroads or vice versa, and in such cases the buildings require motor truck facilities only.

Wherever road transport is used for deliveries and shipments, buildings require Off-street truck loading facilities. We

are only concerned here with Off-street loading, as public parking is not involved. In light industry areas, our On-street loading areas are quite common and in every instance this involves parking—usually short term parking, though there may be a succession of trucks making and taking deliveries occupying the same parking space one after another. Some deliveries may be made in public lanes, or across sidewalks and streets, but there are also many instances where the pavements are widened to extend to the front wall of factories or warehouses, so that trucks and lorries back right up to these buildings and the loading and unloading can be done directly on the street allowance. Where the latter arrangement occurs, there may be a sidewalk on the opposite side of the street only, but in some cases the sidewalk is placed in the centre of the street. This is never considered a satisfactory answer as it provides danger to both pedestrians and vehicle drivers alike.

It will be recognized from what has been said that a great deal of short term parking by motor trucks and lorries is involved in carrying on the businesses which make up the bulk of the occupancy in light industry areas. It will be generally conceded that the width of any street, and the character and arrangement of street improvements thereof, should provide access to and from the traffic needs of existing or authorized uses of properties fronting thereon, as well as for the general traffic requirements of the locality and of the city at large.

PAGE TEN

In addition to the parking requirements of trucks and lorries in making deliveries, a great many business calls are made in such areas, and most of these involve short term parking. These calls are not only by the salesmen of firms themselves, but also by representatives of other firms about goods and materials and other business matters. Most of these involve the office sections of industrial warehouse buildings, and in many cases, short term parking space should be available in the vicinity, unless taken up by long term parkers.

Broadly speaking, those who are responsible for long term parking in these areas are the Managers and employees of the establishments, who park their cars just before opening hour in the morning, and often do not move them again until the warehouses or factories are closed at night.

Unlike the short term parker, the all-day or long term parker has no legitimate claim as I see it, on the use of public street facilities. Long term parking of this kind may be tolerated in some places where the space used is not required for short term parking, and moving traffic is not slowed up or inconvenienced by it, but this is a concession and should not be viewed as a right. In more congested areas, the long term parker should place his car in some Off-street location. Managers and employees in light industrial areas are in this category, and should be made to place their cars in Off-street garages or parking places as close to their places of business as circumstances permit. Some establishments employing a large number of hands who drive automobiles to and from work may provide "employee Off-street parking lots," but this is not general, and is seldom found in Central Areas.

The height of the building, and number of floors, and total floor area used, coupled with the character and operation of the business enterprise in each case, have much to do with the amount of parking required, both short term and long term.

Public interest requires careful consideration of these details,

and what can be permitted in the future development of property in view of street and parking facilities that can be provided.

Available street facilities may be entirely inadequate to meet the needs of some proposed large factory or other project. The details should be worked out and approved by the authorities beforehand, and where necessary, modification should be insisted on, so that provision for traffic, including parking, may be adequate and satisfactory, both for the general public using adjoining streets, and to those operating the project when constructed.

It has been assumed that the loading or unloading of road transport, such as motor lorries, at establishments in light industry areas involves short term parking only. Where longer periods are commonly required for loading or unloading large volume shipments, or heavy machinery, etc., this would usually be done by railroad, and the plant or building will be served by rail facilities. If any warehouse or factory, as a part of their regular operations, attempted to use public street facilities for such long term loading or unloading (involving long term parking), the city would have good grounds for objection and insisting that Off-street loading facilities be provided on private property.

From the foregoing discussion of parking in light industry areas it is apparent that (a) Short term parking is an essential feature in the conduct of businesses commonly found occupying property in such areas. (b) Street facilities should be financed, constructed and cost apportioned for local benefits received, in the manner usually employed by the city in carrying out other municipal public works; (c) Long term parking should be prohibited on streets wherever this would interfere with moving traffic or occupy space required for short term parking.

Again it is obvious that the essential features of the parking problem in light industry areas are the same as in other areas previously discussed, and require similar treatment.

PAGE ELEVEN

PARKING IN HEAVY INDUSTRY AREAS. In the case of large manufacturing plants and industries which predominate in such areas, the loading and unloading involved in shipping products or bringing the materials required for manufacturing, etc., are extensive, and are commonly carried out by means of railroad or wharf facilities on private property. Some deliveries may also be made by rail transport, but the scale of operation in most of these plants is of such proportion that the provision of ample facilities for loading and unloading, for switching of freight cars, and for the movement and handling of materials generally, is required within their own premises.

In light industry areas it was seen that the business demands for short term parking for loading and unloading are heavy, but in heavy industry areas they are usually light. In fact, the main source of short term parking demands in the area usually springs from people making business calls.

Employees in large blocks are likely to be numerous and many of them drive to and from work as heavy industry areas are often at a distance from residential areas. This involves long term parking which calls for examination and analysis.

It has been said that short term parking is relatively light in heavy industry areas, so it may be found that a limited amount of curb space for long term parking is available on public streets in the vicinity of plants. This space will probably fall far short of meeting the total requirement for long term parking, and the practice of permitting extensive long term parking on public street pavements is questionable, as that is one of the expensive ways of providing parking space. It has been remarked elsewhere that parking should not be permitted on any street if it will impede or hold up moving traffic. Of the initial

construction, it will be reasonable as well as economical, to design street paving for industrial areas of sufficient width to accommodate the needs of moving traffic only, except where short term parking, if required for business purposes, or in the interests of the general development and the reasonable use of adjoining property, where it might have the required extra width where necessary. If this procedure were followed, long term parking would have to be accommodated in Off-street locations. Street paving in industrial areas is designed to carry heavily loaded moving vehicles, and is of far greater strength and cost than the kind of surfacing which would be adequate for standing vehicles to occupy from day to day. Street paving is paid for either by the City at large or on a local improvement or benefit basis, where the City and local property owners make contributions on some apportionment basis, and the question arises as to who will carry the extra cost if the width of street paving is increased to provide space for long term parking.

Many heavy industries provide areas for employee parking on their own premises or make arrangements for this on nearby vacant land. This is the proper way to handle the matter, and when the establishment of any new heavy industry is contemplated, arrangements for parking should be considered and determined before buildings are erected and the project is in operation. City authorities are interested and should take steps to see that this is done, as anything beyond legitimate short term parking should be attended to by the enterprise itself or by the individual employees, and the latter are unlikely to make satisfactory arrangements in such areas for long term parking on their own behalf, as it is a mass proposition.

PAGE TWELVE

RAILROAD SHOPS AND FREIGHT TERMINAL SITES The requirements of railroad shops are much the same as those just described for other heavy industries, and need no further comment here.

Railroad yards and freight terminals are usually classified as heavy industries. It is customary for railroads to provide facilities for loading or unloading of freight, either in car-lots or in smaller quantities, on their own premises. The facilities provided usually include paving to the receipt or delivery doors and paved roadways between tracks where loading and

unloading to and from freight cars is carried on. Freight offices and approaches thereto are also on railway property. As a consequence, short term parking presents no problem, and space for this (where needed) is provided on railroad property.

Long term parking for railway employees' cars, however, must receive consideration, and if adequate space for this is not available on railway property, they should be given the same consideration and dealt with as previously outlined for heavy industry generally.

RAILROAD AND OTHER PASSENGER STATIONS Passenger stations are seldom actually in heavy industry areas, though they usually adjoin railroad yards or lots which are classed as heavy industry. In any case, it seems appropriate to deal with them here.

There is a great deal of going to and coming from passenger stations and short term parking in the vicinity is much in demand, though most of this parking is of relatively short duration. Curb parking on streets in the vicinity of passenger stations may or may not be adequate, but in most cases this is the only accommodation afforded or expected by the motorist.

In some cases, Off-street parking space is provided by the railroad company on its own property in the vicinity of the passenger station, and this may offset any deficiency in available curb parking space. It should be borne in mind, that this is private parking space, which may be withdrawn and devoted to other uses at any time, and any comprehensive plan to meet public short term parking needs should not be dependent on the continuance of these private parking lots unless an undertaking with respect to their permanence is given.

Quite often railroad offices are included in the passenger station buildings, but railroad employees are generally pro-

hibited from using the railroad passenger parking lot for long term parking of their own cars. As a rule, these Off-street parking lots are not supervised, and apparently long term parking by railroad customers is not objected to, as it is by no means unusual for automobiles to be left on the lot for a whole day, or even a weekend while they make round-trips by rail to outside towns or resorts. If the operation of the parking lot invites or countenances long term parking it is only reasonable that this accommodation should be provided for at its own expense.

Since railroad employees are not always allowed to use the railroad lot for long term parking, and busy public streets should not be used for this purpose, if it interferes with moving traffic, or appropriates necessary short term parking space, it follows then that employees must either stop driving their automobiles to work or make accommodation for them in garages or Off-street parking lots run by private enterprise, as close to their offices as they can, unless the railroad itself establishes an Offstreet parking lot.

What has been said in this connection about railroad passenger stations applies also to port or airport passenger terminals.

PAGE THIRTEEN

It follows that if curb parking in the vicinity of stations is not sufficient to meet the demands for short term parking, which is deemed to be an important feature of the general public traffic requirements, the alternative is to provide Off-street parking space in some convenient location. Whether the railroad Off-street parking lot can be relied upon to meet this requirement depends on whether its use for parking in the locality is assured. If it is not, or where it is inadequate to meet requirements, then the city authorities should see that adequate

provision is made in some other way by acquiring and develop ing property, invoking the use of local improvement or benefit district tax to accomplish this, as in other cases previously cited.

The same inherent features are found in the parking problem in heavy industrial areas as elsewhere, and the solution of the problem depends on consideration and treating separately the long term and short term parking requirements as in other areas. The parking pattern is fundamentally the same here as in other kinds of areas previously considered.

PARKING IN COMMERCIAL AREAS Parking in commercial areas, particularly in Central Business Districts, is usually more aggrevated than in any other type of area. The aim of this paper is to cover in a general way the main features usually encountered, but to do this as briefly as possible.

Commercial areas may be roughly classified into three catagories: (a) The Central Business District. (b) The District Shopping Areas. (c) Local Shopping Areas or Islands of a commercial character.

The latter will be dealt with first.

PARKING IN LOCAL SHOPPING AREAS OR IN COMMERCIAL ISLANDS Commercial Islands may consist of anything from three or four stores at a street intersection, to a retail shopping centre occupying a block or two. The size of the island usually depends on its strategic position and location in the City and the size, development and character of the surrounding tributary area. The size of the City may also have a bearing, as some large cities have several big retail centres other than the downtown one, or local central business districts, as well as a very large number of smaller Commercial Islands.

First, let us consider the small Commercial Island, which usually consists of a group of retail stores situated so that they serve the surrounding local territory, which is mainly of a residential character. Businesses represented usually include a grocery, a bakery, drug, delicatessen, butcher, perhaps a small hardware and drygoods store, a barber shop, etc., or in short, retailers of consumable goods or articles which people commonly want to be able to buy close to their houses. There may also be doctors' and dentists' offices, either alongside or above.

Usually the store premises are not extensive.

The amount of short term parking required depends upon the size of the shopping group, but in most cases a relatively high percentage of short term parking space is required to enable people to do their shopping. Generally the parking periods are quite short. While Commercial Islands are small, very little attention is paid to parking requirements as a rule, particularly if these Islands occur, as many of them do in Edmonton, at the intersection of two streets. If people desiring to park cannot find space immediately in front of the store they want to visit, they probably go on down the street or turn onto a crossstreet and park there. This is not likely to prove satisfactory in the long run, however, as Commercial Islands have a tendency to grow, and as they expand the time will arrive, if indeed it has PAGE FOURTEEN

not already arrived in certain areas in Edmonton, where parking presents a problem.

As previously mentioned, short term parking which enables the residents to do their shopping and then to go on their way, is an inherent feature of the general public traffic requirement.

The needs of the public and the contributary territory, or the neighbourhood unit, as well as the service and proper use and development of commercial properties in the Island, require that adequate space for short term parking be made available.

As in other cases, the long term parker does not help matters. In Commercial Islands, the long term porkers are usually owners or employees of the retail store, which do not number many. Most storekeepers will agree that they like their customers to be able to park as close to the premises as possible, yet it is not unknown for a merchant or his employees to park their car in front of a neighbour's store-front and leave it there for half a day or even .a whole day. Such long term parking should not be done on public streets, but in some garage or Off-street location. The public should not be asked to provide accommodation for such long term parking, and it should not be allowed on any street where it impedes moving traffic or takes space required for short term parking. Undoubtedly, the curb space in front of retail stores is required for short term parking, if for anthing, and even this will have to yield if traffic requirements make it necessary.

In the initial stages, when Commercial Islands are small, if long term parking is prohibited, curb parking may be sufficient to cover the legitimate requirements of the short term parker; but as the Commercial Island grows this may not be sufficient. Moreover, one or other of the streets form an intersection and may be a main or secondary artery, much of the traffic of which is through-traffic. In such cases, the widening of the pavement to provide for parking may be necessary in the interests of safety and to leave room for the moving traffic; or side roads adjoining parallel to and connected with the main

highway may be established to serve the shopping centre.

Unless the street allowance is quite wide, however, the side road will merely accommodate parallel parking, and as before, this will be found to be inadequate sooner or later. If the surfacing of the side road can be widened sufficiently to allow angle parking—preferably on both sides of the side road—then the provision would be adequate, but generally this is not possible so provision for Off-street parking space will be necessary.

This Off-street parking may be in one or more locations, but it should be so situated that it will serve the whole of the shopping centre; or to put it another way, it should be located so that customers of all stores will have access to its facilities reasonably close to where they want to do their shopping.

LANE

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Off-street parking sites have other advantages over curb parking or side-road arrangements as many merchants hold it PAGE FIFTEEN

a disadvantage to have cars parked in front of shop windows and claim that curb parking spoils the appearance and efficiency of retail business streets.

Another arrangement has been found to work out fairly well if adopted before stores are built. This consists of requiring the same building line for retail store buildings as for dwellings on an adjoining residential property, i.e. they would be set back 20 feet more from the street line. The sidewalk is constructed to adjoin the storefront instead of on to the public street allowance, and the balance space between sidewalk and pavement is suitably surfaced to provide for parking. Arrangements of this kind must be planned and worked out by municipal authorities and the owners of property concerned and this has been done satisfactorily in Edmonton in some places. In the interest of permanency, it is essential that municipal authorities see that necessary legal steps are taken to determine the control needed for projects of the kind mentioned, as well as where Off-street parking sites have to be acquired and operated. As the parking problem may be expected to grow, the importance of permanent parking provision cannot be overemphasized. The local improvement or benefit district method of financing, providing and apportioning the costs so that parking improvements can be effected should be employed in all such cases.

THE DISTRICT SHOPPING CENTRE

The District Shopping Centres include aspects of both local business and in some measure downtown business. They cater for a wider range of consumable commodities, and also provide for such things as movie theatres, halls, rinks and other large types of buildings that the other types of local shopping centres don't usually cater for.

A good instance of a District Shopping Centre, although not a well-planned one, is 118th Avenue and again Whyte Avenue. If we are to create proper District Shopping areas, then the best type of plan is something of a modified so-called Detwiler Scheme, where the buildings are grouped, integrated and parking is part of the integrated plan. Parking by theatre

patrons is usually of the long term variety. The average show is from two and one-half to three hours in length, which parking is too long to be classified as short term. Usually theatres in District Shopping areas do not open until the evening after retail stores are closed, except on Saturdays. If traffic requirements are met, it is doubtful that there will be curb parking enough to meet requirements. This cannot be taken for granted. If a theatre opens during retail business hours, say on Saturday afternoons, there will probably be a very great shortage of parking accommodation. Each case must be dealt with on its own merits, and it is not unusual to require, with the erection of any new theatre, the provision for Off-street parking for its patrons in some ratio to seating accommodation in the theatre. Theatres are a source of constant demand for long term parking, and if congestion is to be avoided, each case must be carefully analysed so that adequate parking accommodation may be made available. Theatres sometimes arrange with businesses in the vicinity which have their own private parking lots to allow their patrons to use them at night, but this type of arrangement falls flat on Saturday afternoons or other days when matinee shows are held.

From the brief outline just given, it will be gathered that the salient features of the parking problem and the manner of dealing with them are essentially the same in District Shopping areas as in other areas previously discussed. They take on a more urgent note in that they approach more nearly the central business district, which we are purposely keeping until last. The extent of the parking problem may be expected to vary approximately with the size of the District Shopping area and the greater the area the greater the parking problem and needs.

Adequate provision for short term parking is as important as in any other area previously discussed, and, be it noted, of even greater importance to the public use in the District Shopping area than to the merchants. It was suggested elsewhere that a motorist should not only be able to initiate or set out on a trip for a definite purpose but that he should also be able to cornPAGE SIXTEEN

The greater part of the people that make their way to the central part of the business district during the morning rush hours are employees whose places of business are in this district, but also included are early shoppers or others who have business or affairs of one kind or another to attend to.

The night rush is virtually the same movement in reverse; employers and employees leave the Central Business District at the close of business to go to their homes, together with late shoppers and others in the district for their own purposes.

Usually, however, the night rush is of higher intensity than the morning rush as it occurs in a shorter period of time.

The heart and blood circulation systems in the human body may be taken to illustrate the morning and evening rushes. Blood is carried back to the heart from the lesser parts of the body through the veins which increase in size as they approach the heart. After cleansing, the blood is expelled from the heart through arteries which diminish in size until they are smallest at the remotest parts of the body.

The streets are considered to perform the dual parts of the veins and arteries and the Central Business District is the heart, the flow of the blood in the veinous system illustrates the morning rush and the arterial system the evening rush.

It has been pointed out just now that most people reach the Central Business District by means of wheeled vehicles, but all become pedestrians in completing the purposes of their trips in this District. It is for this reason that public transit systems follow routes, and have definite stopping places, which will service the public most conveniently; people want to alight at the nearest spot to the point they wish to reach. This applies to passengers in automobiles and drivers of motor trucks as well as those who travel by buses. Transit systems are forms of mass transportation designed to serve the public generally and collectively by means of vehicles following scheduled routes with definite stopping places. The use of the passenger automobile has grown to such an extent that collectively it represents another form of mass transportation, of no mean dimen-

sions, which, however, is confined to no schedule routes, no definite stopping places, and is subject in such respects only to the needs, desires or whims of the individuals who drive them.

Traffic facilities in the Central Business District must be adequate to meet traffic needs so that inconvenience, loss of time and unsafety will not result. Sidewalks and bus crossings must be adequate and properly controlled if pedestrians are to make their way safely and freely to their various destinations in the business district. Pavements must be wide enough to accommodate the volume of traffic. Public transit vehicles move through the Central Business District, picking up passengers enroute, but do not usually remain there—or if they do for any length of time they are parked in Off-street locations, such as within the limits of the bus station, etc. Moving automobile traffic has a great deal of consideration, and, in the main, street facilities more or less adequate, have been provided for its accommodation, and its movements are governed by strict regulations. The requirements of and provisions for standing automobiles are quite different cases, however, and when destination has been reached, the automobile driver often has to make the best of a bad situation. That is why there is a parking problem. In view of requirements, curb parking space in Central Business Districts is extremely limited, and where permitted it is usually occupied in business hours, so the wouldbe parker has to continue beyond the point he has aimed to reach until he can find space in which to park his car, perhaps several blocks away from his point of call. This adds to the congestion of moving traffic on busy streets, which is usually heavy enough in such districts.

It is like a water main which is laid to carry water to desired points, but which is not equipped with a tap or other means of drawing off water there, or like a railroad which has no terminal facilities within easy reach of the Central Business District, but deposits its passengers ten miles out and lets them find their way into the city.

PAGE EIGHTEEN

The street system of main traffic arteries in the city may be adequate for moving vehicles, but if the terminal facilities for parking in the Central Business District are inadequate; how can the public be served, how can the businesses be expected to function properly, and how can traffic congestion and frustration be avoided? Terminal facilities for parking are essential in the downtown Business Shopping District.

THE GENERAL PARKING PROBLEM IN THE DOWNTOWN SHOPPING AREA

The following indicates the kind of thing that happens in a Central Business District: An hour or so before the business opening hour, parking space will be available within a block of any desired point.

During the next hour, however, automobiles pour into the district until by opening time there is little or no curb parking available within three or four blocks of any retail business.

This refers to many streets having limited parking as well as others, where until parking meters are installed, it is difficult to insure that limited parking space is used for short term parking only and many motorists take a chance. Besides this, a few long term parkers are generally found to park in the limited parking space, and arrange to have their cars moved every hour or so, even if only out of the space and back again, or alternatively keep on depositing a nickel when the time is up.

A large number of the cars parked within the hour before opening time belong to employers and employees whose places of business are located somewhere in the vicinity, and a very high percentage of these are long term parkers. All available spaces within hail are occupied, and there is not nearly enough limited parking space to meet requirements, so when retail stores and offices, etc., do open, customers and others who come by automobile to shop or to pay business calls, etc., which involve short term parking, have extreme difficulty in finding places to park in the vicinity of their points

of call and have to take time to hunt for space elsewhere which may eventually find them several blocks away. There are of course, other long term parkers besides employers and employees, but in the Central Business District these latter usually predominate.

Short term parking in the Central District is required by shoppers, by those whose business it is to make calls, or who have business to transact or calls to make for various purposes, by those who wish to take meals at restaurants, or to visit a bank or place of business. There are also deliveries to be made of various kinds, sometimes of goods, sometimes of materials for repairs or fuel, etc., etc. The latter may be accomplished by using lanes at rear of premises (lanes are public streets also).

In any case there are means for vehicles to stop for short periods for legitimate purposes such as these, which are within the scope of general public traffic requirements, and their proper use, development and service of property in the district, should be made available to public authority. On the other hand, long term parking in the form of automobile storage (and there is no valid reason, I contend, why public authorities should assume any responsibility for providing space for it, or even permitting it on public streets, if pavements are not wide enough to accommodate this as well as the needs for moving traffic or if the space so occupied) is actually needed for short term parking.

Nothing said so far must be taken to support the view that the exclusion of all long term parking on public streets in the Central Business District will make sufficient space available at the curb for all the needs of short term parking. This is not to be expected in any sizable city, like Edmonton, but the exclusion would be a step in the right direction. Parking meters will not solve the parking problem either but can help considerably, as effective parking control on limited parking streets is more easily achieved with parking meters than without. While the exclusion of long term parking may not be expected to solve PAGE NINETEEN

the parking problem, it will at least insure that competition for parking space in the Central District will be confined to those who have a right to do so just for short periods. Moreover, this is a step towards meeting the general public needs of traffic facilities, "general public" meaning not so much those engaged in business or the professions in the Central Business Districts as the public generally, so large a section of which has occasion to visit this District frequently for a variety of purposes every day.

It seems then that if the long term parker was banished from streets in the Central Business District, curb parking space might be made to go a good deal further in meeting legitimate needs for short term parking than it does at present, but further provision for short term parking will probably be required in all Central Business Districts notwithstanding. Banishment should not be a great hardship to the long term parker, as private enterprise will no doubt provide for his needs at competitive rates.

It is not so essential for him to park his car close to the main business and go on his way. A long term parker can park his car two or three blocks away from his place of business without serious inconvenience, but the short term parker should be as close to his point of call as circumstances permit. Even with the short term parker there will be what might be called "degrees of urgency." It is an inconvenience for one who has to spend five or ten minutes purchasing some article in a store to have to park four or five blocks away but if his business is going to occupy an hour this distance might not appear so objectionable.

This is a psychological matter of course, but the general parking problem has its psychological aspects. About two blocks would be a maximum desirable distance for any short term parker to have to reach his objective, and the less would obviously be better.

The parking progression on streets in the Central Business Districts seem to run something like this; commencing with the greatest restriction, and proceeding to the least, there are first of all streets on which no parking is permitted at all. The

extreme case of this is in large cities where parking is prohibited throughout the Central Business District. That may cause private cars to cruise around the block until passengers are picked up, thus adding to the congestion of moving traffic, but generally taxis or local transit facilities must be relied on for transportation.

Next comes streets on which limited parking could be permitted, the 'limits' varying from short to relatively long periods.

Depending on pavement widths and traffic conditions, types of parking permitted may be anything from parallel parking to angle parking. Finally, there may be streets where short term parking space is not much in demand due to the location of the street, the development of abutting property, or the character of surface street improvements. As a concession, long term parking might be permitted on such streets, for a time at least, but this is a matter of policy, which the City authorities should decide, for obviously in time this will prove inadequate.

Where reasonably located short term parking space is not available in sufficient quantity on public streets in the Central Business District, other means must be employed to meet this need.

Another point should be carefully noted. It will be generally understood that the character of buildings on different properties in the Central Business District, will have much to do with the demands for parking in this vicinity. A number of tall many-storied buildings are found in the district, and usually all surrounding property is covered with buildings of one sort or another. The character and use of buildings has much to do with the amount of parking space required in the vicinity, but high buildings involving large floor areas usually need large parking requirements with no ground space left to provide for this. Where public streets are inadequate to meet traffic requirements, including parking, even when supplemented by other parking accommodation provided by private enterprise, nothing PAGE TWENTY

less than appropriating private property to provide essential space is likely to meet the requirements. It is evident that lack of zoning control in the past, by this I mean zoning which controls the height, use and open spaces about buildings, has left a legacy of trouble which will be difficult and costly to remedy. This points to the pressing need for adequate zoning control of all future building development in the Central Business District, and for taking other steps required to insure satisfactory traffic and parking conditions.

Parking has not been ignored in town planning schemes, particularily in more recent years. In some cities, applicants for permits to construct new buildings in central districts have to provide space to meet all parking requirements due to previous constructions. It is not clear that the parking space for occupants' cars only is intended, or whether customers' cars also have to be accommodated. If this means that each new premise is to include provision for its own parking requirements, what a scattered, unco-ordinated system of parkings series will have been created when all exisiting buildings have been replaced by new ones. How many sidewalk crossings and rear lane entrances will be involved in such a parking scheme? Could there be a better instance of piecemeal development? It would be as reasonable to require each property in the Central Business District to have its own individual sewage disposal works.

There are services which should be planned comprehensively for whole areas, and not for individual properties. Parking is to my mind one of them.

OTHER PARKING ACCOMMODATION It is recognized that other parking space is available besides that afforded by streets. There are garages and other parking lots run by private enterprise and generally these are well patronized in Central Business Districts. In such localities, provision for employee parking by various firms is virtually non-existent. Some merchants do provide space for customer

parking, but generally in such cases, employees are excluded from the use of such parking lots.

The question naturally arises; are any of these private means likely to expand sufficiently to solve the general parking problem? So far, private enterprise projects have not been so conspicuously successful as to attract much competition in this field. This kind of business might be helped if long term parkers were excluded from public streets. The costs, difficulties and hazards of operation may have something to do with this. The truth is, however, that these operators have to locate where they can, and quite often their tenure of sites is of short duration and short term notice. Unless they are on sites or in garages, their tenure is quite uncertain. Anyhow, the properties they can use are limited to those they own, or which can be purchased or leased. These may or may not be in desirable locations, and in any case, the use of property for garage or parking lot purposes is likely to cease as soon as it is required for some higher use, and so the parking space would disappear.

All things considered, the ultimate solution of the parking problem seems likely to depend only partly on the growth and expansion of garages and parking lots run by private enterprise, though it is recognized that they relieve the parking situation to an extent in the meantime.

Off-street customer parking lots provided by merchants and others also relieve the situation, though few of them in Central Business Districts even provide for all of their customers. There is no assurance that they will continue to operate parking lots, or that they will increase them to meet expanding needs, or that they could do so if they wanted to, as they have no rights of expropriation. The merchant might determine the most suitable location for a parking lot or extension but he cannot compel the owners to sell property required if they do not want to. Like other industrial Off-street parking lots, which do not combine with others to form a comprehensive parking scheme, these customer parking lots are probably surrounded by traffic condiPAGE TWENTY-ONE

tions which are more or less congested, and nothing short of an adequate street system, with full provision, either On or Offstreet for all parking requirements can remedy this. It is obvious that no individual merchant can solve the general parking problem of the whole Central Business District by himself.

In several cities groups of business men, usually with the co-operation of city authorities, have promoted Off-street parking projects of various kinds—ground level, underground, multifloor, etc.—and undoubtedly these have afforded needed relief in their vicinities. However, unless any such project forms an integral part of a comprehensive parking scheme designed to serve adequately the whole of the Central Business District, it can be expected to relieve in small degrees only, and not to cure prevalent parking ills.

Provided city authorities associate themselves with such movements by giving leadership and active co-operation, and by making city powers and facilities available for implementation when necessary, it may be inferred from actual experience in promoting and consummating these projects that it is a very

good thing to have private citizens take an active interest and part in promoting the projected design to relieve the parking conditions. While most of the projects just referred to were carried through by the combined efforts of private citizens and authorities, in many cases the City now owns or ultimately will own the properties required for parking, though the means employed in promoting and financing the projects, and subsequently in operating them as parking lots, have varied considerably. From the viewpoint of permanence, it is essential that the City should own public parking lots.

It is well to recall the principle that if the city expropriates property to create public parking lots, it must retain title to such property as long as it is required for public parking purposes.

The City may, however, call for tenders to operate or lease the parking lots to private parkers under such conditions as to operation, service, rates, etc., as it may see fit to impose, provided the property is used for the purpose for which it was expropriated, namely public parking. Legislation with respect to this may vary somewhat in different places, but the general principle holds good.

RESPONSIBILITY OF CITY AUTHORITIES As there are no sound reasons for expecting the parking problem to solve itself, but everything points to the probability of its becoming progressively worse, it is imperative that it be taken in hand without delay. There is regulation of parking space on many streets already, and this must be extended as traffic conditions demand. It is only to be expected that some existing streets will have to be widened or Off-sreet property will have to be acquired in suitable locations to provide for public parking needs. Only municipal authorities have the power to regulate traffic and to expropriate property needed for public purposes, and City ownership alone can insure continuous use for parking purposes of any Off-street areas required. From all aspects, the leadership of city authorities is not

only desirable, but essential, to deal adequately with parking, as steps necessary to affect permanent remedies can be taken by them alone.

The provision of necessary parking space might be accomplished in several different ways. A street might be widened to allow for angle parking, where before there was only room for parallel parking; or the street boundaries might be widened to make room for a sideroad parallel to and connected at each end with the main traffic way, such sideroad having width enough to allow for parallel or angle parking. It will be accepted that such widening required for traffic reasons, and the widening of streets generally, must be carried out by the PAGE TWENTY-TWO

city authorities, as they alone have the necessary powers. There are cases, however, where the widening of streets can be accomplished only with difficulty, or where the costs involved are excessive, and it might be more advantageous and less expensive to acquire and improve Off-street parking to meet parking needs, rather than to widen streets. Essentially, these are the same projects in different forms, one form being better to meet the circumstances in some cases and the other in others. Both are designed to meet traffic requirements and both should be carried out by the City authorities. The local improvement or benefit district method is commonly employed in financing, constructing, and apportioning the costs for street opening and widening projects, and the same should be used in the cases where circumstances favour the acquisition and development of Off-street parking lots rather than the widening of streets.

The main features of the parking pattern in the downtown business districts are inherited, the same as those found in the residential, industrial and other areas previously discussed, differences being in degree only. In the Central Business District deficiencies are more noticeable than elsewhere; here the volume of traffic is so much larger, parking needs are so much more extensive and apparent than in other areas, and, where adequate facilities are not available, congestion is more intense and wide-spread.

Various means have been tried to ease the parking situation with results just as varied. Seldom have the two elements, long and short term parking, been segregated and dealt with separately.

Actually, nothing short of a comprehensive scheme designed to meet and solve the whole parking problem for the city can be expected to succeed. Meanwhile, in many cities, the Central Business District and the area of greatest traffic congestion and parking deficiency is sick and likely to die of strangulation. Other areas in the City are touched by the same disorder, but traffic is lighter and the effects are not so noticeable. It will follow inevitably that if the public generally, includ-

ing businessmen, cannot reach points in the Central Business District with reasonable facilities, businesses will move to or become established in other parts of the City, which, though more out of the way at the moment of urbanization, will be less congested at first. If traffic and parking are not adequately provided for in these new business centres, however, conditions there will become progressively more congested and inconvenient as the centres grow and thus they will encounter in some degree the same difficulties and problems as their original Central Business District. The sequence will run something like this: if a parking problem is not faced and solved in the Central Business District, decentralization to other centres may take place. If the parking pioblem is not faced in these new centres, further decentralization will overtake them also; and so finally there might be a series of semi-abondoned or blighted business districts with movement of business to other new centres still going on.

An operation may be painful, but necessary to restore health. Facing up to and disposing of the parking problem is the operation so badly needed today; and if it is put off, deterioration will expand and increase, causing serious loss to everybody—to private property owners, the general public, and City revenue will suffer also.

It will be generally agreed that the Central Business District did not just happen to develop where it is; it grew to its present proportions on its present site for meeting the needs of the people. There are advantages in the congregation of retail businesses, of financial institutions, office buildings, etc., together; as such grouping expedites inter-communication and facilitation of business of all kinds. Also, progressive retailers like to be in a busy location with many more other retail stores, and the public prefers this grouping too, as it means that all their wants can be supplied within a small radius, competition is keener, a wider range of goods is available; and many people like a choice when shopping—not only a choice of goods but a choice of stores, and to be able to look things over in more PAGE TWENTY-THREE

than one store before they buy. It is evident that most people value a Central Business District, as there are few who do not use one frequently; and they will continue to do so, so long as they can attend to their business with reasonable despatch.

They can do this only if traffic generally, including short term parking, is regulated and provided for adequately.

FUTURE CONTROL INVOLVES THE IMPOSITION OF TOWN PLANNING MEASURES TO INSURE THAT ALL FUTURE BUILDING DEVELOPMENTS ARE WITHIN THE SCOPE OF TRAFFIC FACILITIES (INCLUDING PARKING), THAT ARE, OR CAN BE MADE AVAILABLE TO SERVE SUCH NEW BUILDINGS. This is of very great importance. Public streets have to serve local as well as through traffic, and local

traffic includes the legitimate short term parking needs of buildings in the vicinity which may involve the provision of Off-street as well as side-street parking space. The extent of

the new building development should be conditioned by the traffic facilities available or that can be made available. It follows from this that traffic facilities required by a new building should be investigated and adequate provision ensured before the construction of any building is authorized. This is necessary not only for the city at large and the locality itself but also to insure proper functioning of the new building. Many future building owners apparently do not appreciate this point. Traffic facilities are just as essential for full and satisfactory use and occupation of a building, as its foundations are for stability and consequently the utility of the structure itself.

CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS The solution of the parking problem in any city depends primarily on differentiating between long and short term parking, deciding how long term parking shall be dealt with and disposed of, and providing for legitimate short term parking requirements under prescribed conditions. In this connection "legitimate" is applied to the short term parking that is an integral part of general public traffic and for which adequate facilities should be provided by city authorities as an essential service for the public at large and for city properties generally, thus meeting traffic requirements and enabling the lawful development, occupation, operation, use and proper functioning of private property, such provision being made and paid for on a local improvement basis, as in the case of street improvements generally and other municipal public works. In essence, the solution of the parking problem exists in providing adequate legitimate short term parking.

The permissible parking period for short term parking will vary according to location and the character of property development and uses in the vicinity. All parking may be prohibited

on certain busy downtown streets, and on others the parking limit might be thirty minutes or even less, unless congested streets, anywhere up to one hour might be allowed. In other areas, as for instance a residential district, a much longer period would be permitted. Beyond the prescribed short term parking time limit, all parking is considered long term.

The costs of providing for legitimate short term parking will depend on what is involved; the availability of parking space on existing streets, and the availability of property, if such has to be acquired, and the cost of construction in the city concerned where surface improvement or construction involved will also effect costs. The size of the city, the siting and layout of the business district, the character, extent and location of existing buildings, the control of future building developments, the character and volume of traffic on different streets all have a bearing on the character and extent of provision for parking to be made and, consequently, on the costs involved. Each community is a special case requiring study and treatment according to its particular circumstances. The main items which should PAGE TWENTY-FOUR

receive consideration in planning a comprehensive parking scheme may be summarized as follows: 1. A survey of existing parking facilities.

This should cover On-street and Off-street parking facilities, as they exist today, and include privately owned parking lots available for public parking.

2. A survey of existing parking habits.

This should cover characteristics and statistics of public parking on the streets and private property. This survey would also include data on character and volume of traffic, both vehicle and pedestrian, with routes and stops of public transit systems. Data should also cover existing building developments and their effect upon traffic.

3. Determination of parking classifications.

Legitimate and short term parking should be defined.

Time Limits will vary on different streets. All other parking will be long term.

4. An estimate of available curb parking space.

This involves estimating the nearer future height of public traffic volume—pedestrian, vehicular, and public transit system. Existing buildings, their future extension and modification, anticipated "future building developments as they effect traffic and parking, must be considered to make the traffic volume estimate. The traffic volume estimate is then related to existing street facilities to determine available curb parking space.

6. Disposition of curb space for short term parking.

Time limits and use generally of available curb space according to location for short term parking, should then be determined.

7. Existing Off-street areas available for Off-street parking.

These may be publicly or privately owned. Privately owned facilities should be investigated and definite conclusions reached as to whether facilities may be relied on for public short term parking and if so, for how long a period.

8. Further requirements for short term parking.

The difference between the estimated total requirements for short term parking (Item No. 5) and the use of available curb parking space (Item No. 6), and Off-street parking areas (Item No. 7) indicate what further short term parking facilities are required. City authorities might make this further provision by widening existing streets or by acquiring Off-street parking sites. Such Off-street sites might be developed for ground level parking area only or for multi-floor parking.

The magnitude of the requirements, cost and other circumstances have a bearing on this. Flexibility is desirable and in many instances, may be assured by providing groundlevel parking sites to meet requirements in the first instance and later the accammodation can be expanded, as required, by erecting further floors above ground floor structure thereon.

9. Disposal of long term parking.

5. An estimate of short term parking requirements.

The preparation of this estimate is derived from the the data previously assembled in association with the determinations required by Item No. 3, and the traffic volume studies referred to in Item No. 4.

City authorities must decide whether any long term curb parking will ever be permitted on city streets at all and, if so, where and under what conditions. If long term parking is not provided for on city streets, it must be provided for on Off-street locations on private property.

PAGE TWENTY-FIVE

It is not difficult to list the headings of what has to be done, but application of comprehensive and adequate parking schemes for any sizeable city calls for a great deal of hard work, ability, planning and capacity, co-ordination, good judgment, patience and co-operation.

Curb parking regulation and control may be assisted by installing parking meters and charges may be made for parking in city owned, Off-street locations. These are matters which city authorities must consider and determine. Actually, scales of parking rates may be so devised as to assist in distributing parking as traffic conditions may require. This is feasible where the city authorities operate private parking lots or lease them to private operators, as in the latter case, and these terms may control the parking rates. The scale of parking rates charged by garages operating parking lots as private enterprise are likely to be fixed with a view to the biggest money returns, and are not necessarily to assist in general traffic requirements. For instance, in some larger cities it has been observed that rates are relatively higher for short term parking and lower for long term parking in garages just off the business streets. This is just the reverse of what should be done in the interest of traffic, as in such a location, long term parking should be discouraged, so that as much space as possible may be made available for short term parking, of which there is usually a deficiency in such localities. Conversely, by making rates low, long term parkers may be attracted to remoter sites on the fringes of the Central Business District some blocks away from any main business street.

As a goal, it has been stated elsewhere in this paper that space for short term parking in moderate size cities should be available within two or three blocks of any given point in the Central Business District. To provide such facilities in sufficient quantity would probably involve expropriating property which cannot always be done close to, if not in the exact location selected as ideal, without having to demolish valuable buildings. The character of streets and quantity of development quite often fall off sharply as the distance from the main streets

widen and satisfactory parking sites within range and reasonable cost and in satisfactory locations can usually be found.

The question is, however, what parking sites would be required and how would they be located to serve, adequately, the existing and nearer future development in the Central Business District if parking requirements were the sole consideration?

This question is a fair approach to the problem and, if answered properly will disclose the ideal arrangement. Feasible sites may then be determined involving a compromise with this ideal but close enough to make a satisfactory and workable system.

For many cities it has been found a series of well defined parking lots located on a loop surrounding the Central Business District, is likely to form a most suitable and effective terminal parking arrangement. Each parking lot is a unit in its comprehensive terminal scheme. By inter-communication between attendants of all lots, if one becomes filled up would-be parkers can be directed to the nearest other parking lot where spaces are available, with the least loss of time. The essential is for citizens to know that their short term parking requirements will be accommodated at a convenient point reasonably close to their objective in the Central Business District.

It will be recognized that extensions and adjustments will have to be made in parking arrangements from time to time to keep pace with the growth of the city or expansion and changes in the Central Business District.

The approaches to Off-street parking lots are extremely important, as they may cause traffic congestion if not properly planned and located. The character and development of abutting and adjoining property, the traffic requirements and capacity of streets serving any proposed parking site, and how these would be effected by proposed parking site entrances and exits, should receive careful consideration, and the proposed arrangement be judged satisfactory before acquisition, or before the development of any parking site is proceeded with.

Appearance should not be neglected. The mere mention of the term "Parking Lot," is apt to conjure up a picture of some drab utilitarian urban space, certainly not ornamental, often PAGE TWENTY-SIX

unkempt and a general impression of having had little attention paid to its layout, maintenance and upkeep. The appearance of such a parking lot would be detrimental to its environment and consequently objectionable and harmful to the area or occupiers of abutting property. This is not at all necessary, as a small amount of care and expenditure will make and keep a parking lot smart, trim and of good appearance. Corners, spaces of entrance or elsewhere which cannot be used for parking or driveways can be landscaped or sodded without impairing the utility of the parking lot in the least. Trees and hedges may be planted or boundary fences erected. Where a parking lot is maintained in a trim and sightly condition it will not impair the locality and its neat appearance will deter most people from littering it up with wastepaper and other rubbish.

Parking lots need not be unsightly, they can be made to look attractive usually with very little extra effort.

While much of the material set out on the last few pages refers more particularly to parking in the Central Business Districts, in many instances it may apply in less congested areas also, although in lesser degrees, the procedures are modified to meet the conditions encountered.

Among the many responsibilities and powers of city authorities are those associated with the provision and control of traffic and parking. These latter include over-all planning, provision for regulation of public traffic and parking, the need for an all embracing origin and destination traffic survey, the acquisition of land for public purposes, the construction and opportioning of costs of public works required for public work and parking, and the control of future buildings and other developments, both public and private, to the end (amongst other things) that traffic and parking may be adequately and continuously provided for. City authorities are responsible for all these things, and they alone have the authority and necessary powers to control and effect them.

While the directive and executive powers are placed in the City Authority this does not prevent private citizens and organizations from helping movements aimed to relieve parking prob-

lems; in fact their assistance is very much needed. They can serve on boards and committees, sponsor and assist in making studies, publicize proposals and mould public opinion in support of parking projects and traffic regulations effecting parking.

They also can make representations to city authorities, as in some cases things may not be done unless they do make a move. But all these things must be done in co-operation with the city authorities, for they are the representatives of all the people in whom the responsibility and the authority to supervise and carry out such projects into effect are vested. Individual citizens and citizen groups have made many splendid contributions in these fields in the past, and it is only to be hoped that they will continue to do so, but it must be recognized that, by themselves, they cannot put through comprehensive schemes to provide adequate provision for public parking, as they have no jurisdiction over traffic or the use of public streets, and they cannot acquire property unless owners are willing to sell. Some merchants and other forms of private enterprise have relieved the parking situation somewhat, for a time at least, by providing space for public parking on private property, thus relieving parking pressure and the city authorities have let it stand, but such projects, helpful as they are, will never be on such a scale as to solve the whole parking problem in a comprehensive and effective way. Furthermore, they cannot be relied upon to be permanent.

In the final analysis, then, city authorities must take the lead in fostering and developing parking schemes, if for no other reasons than that finally they will have to approve them and adopt them and thereafter implement them and administer them, and this is a very important conclusion.

NOEL DANT, Town Planner.

PAGE TWENTY-SEVEN

THE PARKING PROBLEM AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE HIGHWAY

Presented to the Council of The City of Edmonton in March, 1951.

THE PARKING PROBLEM AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE HIGHWAY INTRODUCTION An adequate highway system—one affording completely free movement of vehicles—would still not solve our transportation problem. This is because the objective of every motor vehicle is a terminal.

The average motor vehicle, for instance, is in motion about 500 hours a year; it is parked the remaining 8,260 hours. During this year of travel, the average driver covers 9,000 miles. He covers them through a series of short trips, the average of which

is sixteen miles. Each short trip requires a place to park. Otherwise the purpose of the trip cannot be accomplished.

The parking problem plagues one particularly in the congested areas of our cities, for city streets constitute only 6% of the total road and street mileage in the province, and serve approximately 30% of the total traffic express in vehicle miles.

If parking facilities are not provided in the downtown district, all efforts to provide through movement for vehicles will be of no avail.

GROUPS AND INTERESTS AFFECTED BY PARKING The parking problem is complicated by the fact that so large a number of individuals, agencies and interests are directly concerned with it. The concern in some cases is limited to individual attitudes and whims. In others, large investments and business interests are at stake.

Merchants. In downtown districts, retail merchants are the group that parking most acutely affects. The very success of their business, many of them believe, depends importantly on parking spaces in front of their shops. Merchants protest any severe regulations or prohibitions of curb parking. Such regulations, they say, would reduce the value of their business establishment. In practice, engineering studies and changes often prove these objections unwarranted.

Motorists. Motorists want the greatest possible convenience with maximum safety, minimum delay, and least possible expens which means adequate space directly in front of the point where he wishes to do business. Such a situation is often impossible; and in the case of most businesses only a small percentage of customers can be provided such convenience.

Property Owners. Owners of retail property, particularily those in congested districts, believe the value of their real estate depends to large extent upon the accessability of their property through curb parking. Like merchants and motorists, most owners resist attempts to prohibit curb parking. Few are willing to go to the expense of providing for such facilities for employees and patrons.

Commercial Places. Ready access to roadways is necessary for the receipt of freight. This frequently requires special consideration for delivery trucks and other commercial vehicles.

Taxis. Loading areas at the curb are provided for taxis in the downtown districts of every City. These zones might otherwise be used by individual motorists. They therefore, are part of the curb parking problem.

Fire Hydrants. These, of necessity, must be located at curb points, and as such, must also be considered as part of the curb parking problem.

Mass Transportation. Buses also become a factor. Vehicles parked too close to street intersections or authorized stops PAGE TWENTY-EIGHT

prevent buses from pulling to the curb. When this happens they extend into other than the normal parking lane and block moving traffic.

If decreased traffic interference could make bus service more comfortable, frequent, convenient, and rapid, more people would use mass transportation because it is cheaper than operating a private car. Increased mass transportation

would reduce car usage and so relieve parking. How can this change in habit be brought about? Some cities have tried prohibiting curb parking in certain areas. In other cities, such as Philadelphia, Detroit, and Cleveland, the transit companies have been party successful by providing parking space in outlying districts and charging a small fee which includes transportation into and out of the congested area.

ECONOMIC LOSSES FROM INSUFFICIENT PARKING FACILITIES The unavailability of parking space in a business area creates an economic problem. When parking affects business directly, the economic influences are direct and can readily be measured and evaluated. In most cases, however, these influences are indirect and difficult to measure. Their effect is felt over long periods and in diverse ways. There is not available, therefore, much specific information on business loss from insufficient parking. Better ways should obviously be devised for measuring business and economic trends and relating them directly or indirectly to parking. This would provide more effectual data for general application and specific use.

A direct economic loss from a lack of parking facilities is measured in two ways: Time Losses. A study conducted in Washington, D.C., showed a time loss of nearly 16 minutes for each six-mile trip. That time was spent searching for a parking place and walking from the parking place to the ultimate destination.

Decrease in Tax Revenue. When a City's downtown district becomes inaccessible by motor vehicle, the motoring public soon transacts its business elsewhere. Many business establishments have therefore moved to suburban areas. A main reason their owners give is the need to provide customers with convenient parking.

Such decentralization of business can seriously affect a city's economic health, if carried to extremes. Central Business Districts pay a large portion of the property taxes. In New Haven, Connecticut, for example, the Central Business District pays 20% of the City property tax, on only 11/2 % of the tax paying area.

It would seem, then, that any condition seriously affecting the taxes of a city must be regarded with grave concern by officials responsible for the city's welfare. Inadequate parking facilities, if not definitely improved, will seriously threaten all cities' economic future.

PARKING CHARACTERISTICS Drivers of motor vehicles have many and varied interests and desires. Their reasons for parking are consequently varied.

Numerous parking studies over a period of years, however, have determined certain "average" requirements which the motoring public has established.

Time Demands. Time demands for curb parking are fairly consistent in downtown areas. Studies indicate that about 80 per cent of the motorists desire to park an hour or less in these districts. (The figure varies from 60 to 90 per cent.) The modal value for curb parking time requirements is generally found to PAGE TWENTY-NINE

be about 30 minutes. Where shoppers have been segregated from other traffic parking at the curb, time demands are greater—often it may be three hours or more.

A recent survey conducted in Morristown, New Jersey, shows 40 minutes as the average time for downtown curb parking. Half of the cars parked 20 minutes or less; 75 per cent parked under 40 minutes; 12 per cent parked over the legal limit of one hour.

Space Demand. Parking space demands vary with the time of day, day of the week, and season of the year. It is possible, however, to draw conclusions found generally true throughout various sections of the country.

Parking spaces in central districts are in greatest demand between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. on weekdays, Monday through

Friday. Variance occurs with the size of cities. A study in Detroit to determine the need for Off-street facilities disclosed that when the peak of demand occurred, at 2:30 p.m., in this case, parking equalled 172 per cent of all legal spaces in the concentrated retail area. Shoppers and others were parking in illegal spaces such as fire hydrant zones, loading zones, bus stops, and in other spaces that were restricted by law.

Walking Distances. Surveys have determined a definite limit drivers can be expected to walk from parking to destination.

At the same time that cars were parked illegally in Detroit, legitimate spaces were empty in areas a few hundred feet from the concentrated retail area. Only 80% of all parkers interviewed parked at or less than 1,000 feet from their destination.

This distance varies, however, with the time a person desires to park.

CONTROL OF CURB PARKING To use streets for the dual purpose of moving traffic and storing vehicles, it is necessary to enforce regulations. Time regulations are imposed to allow the greatest use of curb space; and to protect street users and relieve congestions, curb areas are regulated.

General Parking Regulations. Parking regulations for curb control include basic rules by provincial codes as well as local rules by city ordinance. These regulations are enacted to provide public safety or public convenience. Proper education of the public as to the necessity for both making the regulations and complying with them is a major factor.

Time Limits. Parking regulations for public convenience include time limits on curb use by individuals. Such regulations properly reserve curb spaces in most needed locations for short time

parkers. In establishing these limits, consideration must be given the type of business transacted in the area, enforcement strength, community parking characteristics, and the viewpoints of motorists and land users.

Parking Durations. As indicated under "Parking Characteristics" above, most motorists are ready to leave downtown districts after an hour, and the modal requirement is 30 minutes.

Shoppers may stay two hours or longer, if able. Because of these characteristics, the usual parking durations are one hour or one-half hour in business districts, except at those places where short time parking only—usually 15 minutes or less—is allowed. In outlying districts, parking periods of two hours are common, aimed principally at preventing the use of the curb for long time storage and to control all-night parking.

PAGE THIRTY

ENFORCEMENT OF CURB PARKING In every city, the enforcement of curb parking regulations constitutes a large part of the responsibilities of the traffic enforcement agency. Large manpower and equipment requirements are necessary to enforce space and time regulations.

Effective enforcement, however, pays big dividends in curb capacity and orderly traffic flow. It has been estimated on the basis of a recent check in Morristown, New Jersey, that curb parking capacity on all streets could be increased 14 per cent by enforcing the one-hour limit.

Parking meters cannot produce additional curb space.

Some cities, in their endeavor to increase revenue, have made the mistake of installing meters near intersections and in prohibited zones. Such practices induce accidents and public resentment.

Meters do increase curb use for a greater number by increasing the turnover. Therein lies their chief benefit.

In most cities, the police are in the position of enforcing regulations that are contrary to public desire. Enforcement of curb parking regulations is not only one of the biggest jobs of city police, but one of the most unpopular.

Cities Using Meters. By 1948 most of the installations of parking meters, on a percentage basis, had taken place in cities with populations over 10,000. Smaller cities had not installed many meters. Nearly four-fifths of the cities with populations between 25,000 and 500,000 had meters operating.

Parking Meters. One of the newest means for controlling curb parking is the parking meter. It was not generally applied until the late 1930's, yet in a short space of time meters were widely accepted.

Income from Meters. Meters have an excellent record as revenue producers in addition to their use as traffic control aids.

In 1944, the 150,414 meters in 323 cities took in $9,383,907—an average of $62.38 per meter.

OFF-STREET PARKING While curb parking should receive its full measure of attention in a parking plan for any urban area, it is generally agreed that the curb alone cannot furnish parking space sufficient for the demand in urban areas.

To solve this problem, the question of adequate Off-street parking space faces the majority of our urban areas. Off-street parking spaces now available vary from about 5 per cent to 30 per cent of the registered vehicles. The problem involves not only the provision of sufficient space, but of space efficiently located near areas of concentrated land use, and space attractively enough priced for the motoring public to use it.

There are three general modes of operation of Off-street parking facilities: (1) Private facilities, (2) Privately operated public facilities, (3) Municipal facilities.

Private Facilities. Such facilities usually are operated in connection with retail stores, hotels, or other business establishments. In some cases, the motorist pays directly for the service; in others, the cost may be absorbed by the business served, or driver and business may share the cost.

In St. Louis, a combined garage and bus service has been established for shoppers patronizing any of 130 stores and offices in the downtown section. Each time a purchase is made PAGE THIRTY-ONE

in a member store, 10 cents is deducted from the total parking fee. The fee is 10 cents for the first hour, 20 cents for two hours, 30 cents for three to five hours, and 35 cents for all day.

Another successful example of a private venture is the Oakland, California, experiment started in 1929, known as the Downtown Merchants' Parking Association. This organization, now comprising 164 members has acquired a number of strategically situated low-income properties for parking lots. Land is acquired by purchase or lease, with a ten-year minimum term for leased property and an average rental of 11/2 cents a month for each square foot. The parking fee in the Oakland lots is 10 cents an hour; but the motorist can park free for two hours by having his parking check validated in a member store, whether a purchase is made or not. Because of the comparatively high hourly rate after the expiration of the free parking period, the rate of turnover is high as compared with the average commercially operated public parking facility. In one of the seven lots operated by the Oakland merchants, the daily turnover is as high aq ten cars a space for each day.

Privately Operated Public Facility. The privately owned lot or garage provides the principal parking capacity in our downtown areas. This type of service has greatly increased in the last few years. In Los Angeles, Off-street parking facilities increased from 50 in 1922 to 920 in 1938, with the capacity expanding from 4,000 to 65,000 cars. Chicago had sixty Offstreet facilities in 1927 and 237 in 1938.

Municipal Facilities. The third type of facility may involve parking as a municipal operation, with facilities furnished free to the motorist or at low rates made possible through sharing the cost by property owners or taxpayers.

The use of municipally owned and operated facilities has been largely the result of failure on the part of private enterprise to provide sufficient parking areas properly located. Public

action in this field has been established for more than twenty years. Flint, Michigan, established municipal parking in 1924.

In 1926, Lafayette, Indiana, authorized a bond issue of $52,000 to acquire lands for parking facilities.

In 1936, Garden City, Long Island, drew up a definite parking plan to serve its established business and apartment house section. Land was obtained by condemnation, and the village now operates them. Parking is free: cost of construction

and maintenance is paid by assessment against benefited properties.

Still another example of successful municipal operation of parking facilities is found in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where a large parking lot for shoppers is located in the central business district. A Shoppers Parking Lot Board of five merchants and property owners meets periodically with the Kalamazoo City Manager to set operational policies.

Methods of Finance. The cost of providing Off-street parking facilities must be borne by one or more of the following: (1) The municipality. (2) The landowner or user. (3) The driver.

Many persons feel that terminal facilities are an integral part of any transportation system and therefore should be provided by the City. Still others contend that concentrated land use has brought about the parking problem and therefore the land user should provide parking for traffic generated by his business. A third group contend that driving a private vehicle into the downtown district is a luxury, and the motorists should logically be willing to pay for the parking aspects of it.

Ottumwa, Iowa, has provided a free parking lot for nearly 1,000 cars. All costs of construction were paid from profits from the water and power plants constructed at the same time as the lot. There is no charge to the motorist or to property owners or Users.

PAGE THIRTY-TWO

Kalamazoo pays for its municipal parking, previously described, by assessing the cost against 120 benefited properties. Districts to be assessed were determined by the city

assessor and twenty-five other citizens. The motorist pays part of the expense by being charged an hourly fee after a period of two hours free parking.

PARKING AUTHORITIES AND COMMISSIONS Several cities have sought enabling legislation to create official public bodies to deal with the many complex problems of Off-street parking facilities. Such authorities or commissions are usually given the right of condemnation and the right to levy assessments to subsidize parking developments. They may be required to operate facilities directly or they may be authorized to lease publicly owned facilities to private agencies.

Such authorities should be non-political. They should provide a business medium through which all agencies interested in improving a city's parking conditions can work effectively together. They may be especially effective in bringing together the parking interests of metropolitan areas that consist of parts of several incorporated places. In such projects, of course, there must always be proper governmental support, freedom from politics, and astute business management. Other-

wise satisfactory and self-liquidating operations cannot be expected.

Authorities that require the endorsement of a majority, or fixed percentage, of the property owners in downtown areas before action can be taken to procure lands and levy assessments, may become involved in arguments and dissensions.

And questions among property owners as to who will benefit most in relation to the location of facilities and subsidy assessments must be resolved.

NOEL DANT, Town Planner.

PAGE THIRTY-THREE

GENERAL-USE TRAFFIC STUDIES

Presented to the Council of The City of Edmonton in March, 1951.

GENERAL-USE TRAFFIC STUDIES Included in the group of traffic studies applicable to a wide range of traffic problems are various types of studies to determine the volumes, character, and speed of traffic, as well as

studies of accidents and of law observance and enforcement, and studies to indicate where a proposed network of new and existing highways should be designed.

TRAFFIC VOLUME STUDIES existing routes have reached or are approaching saturation, or where grade separation is needed at a key intersection.

Volume data not only helps to justify expenditures, but also can be very valuable in securing public support for them.

Basic to consideration of how to attain maximum facility and safety in use of existing streets is knowledge of the traffic volumes on the various major streets and routes. Generally it is vehicular volume which is studied. But pedestrians are a highly important part of traffic, and in some places, including business districts and other locations where large numbers of pedestrians cross streets, pedestrian volume studies are highly important. Such studies demonstrate the relative importance of the various arteries and intersections. They show where traffic signal systems and other control devices are most warranted.

Volume counts are essential in deciding upon through streets, routings, one-way regulations, channelization improvements, parking and no-stopping regulations, high quality street lighting, pedestrian protective devices and measures, timing regulations, police post duty, and supervisory police patrol routes.

Since traffic flows fluctuate widely and since peak-period flows are the critical factor, volume data should show the time fluctuations by hourly and half-hourly periods. Volume counts should be made at important intersections, in business districts on all important arteries, in industrial, theatre, and other areas of special traffic concentrations, and at high accident and traffic problem points. Turns should be recorded. Graphic diagrams showing the traffic pattern at intersections for the day and in some cases for peak periods should be prepared, as should a general traffic flow map. Other forms of presentation of the data will serve various purposes.

A vehicle volume map will also be useful in planning street improvements—as, for example, in helping to show where

The volume of traffic movement is a fundamental value to be used in considering almost every traffic improvement.

ORIGIN AND DESTINATION STUDIES While vehicle volume counts show total flow on existing routes, it must be recognized that for varying proportions of the vehicles the use is "forced" by non-existence of an attractive more direct route. Hence, when new traffic facilities are being considered, studies of origin and destination will be exceedingly valuable. Desire lines connecting zones of origin and

destination will indicate where, for present traffic, new routes will be most effective. As mentioned earlier, such studies should be adjusted to take account of anticipated development of residential or industrial districts, or other changes which will affect the future traffic pattern. Origin-destination studies, or "O.D." studies as they are called, with future projections help considerably in determining the capacity a new facility should have.

PAGE THIRTY-FOUR

O.D. studies reasonably projected show where a bridge or tunnel should be located and what its capacity should be.

O.D. studies not only guide as to location and capacity, but they help greatly in arriving at time and distance savings which can be ascertained—and these are important in connection with the economic justification of the structure, irrespective of whether or not the structure is to be a toll facility. Such studies also are of much value in determining where interchanges should be located along freeways or expressways.

O.D. studies generally include mode of transportation and

now often include "travel habit" and parking data. When adjustments for the future are included, they are of very great value in studies of terminal needs, as, for example, the locations and capacities of parking lots and garages in and near the downtown district. They can be equally valuable, if trucking data are included, with respect to truck terminals.

In the U.S.A. a sampling method for O.D. studies has been devised by the Public Roads Administration, with the co-operation of the U.S. Census Bureau, which considerably reduces the costs of such studies in comparison with older methods.

CORDON COUNTS One method of checking the validity of sampling O.D. counts is the use of controlled counts at selected cordon or loop locations. One customary cordon is around the Central Business District. Cordon counts show the numbers of vehicles going in or out through the cordon by time of day. The algebraic addition of such movements by time intervals results in information on the accumulation of traffic within the area and on the time and rate of accumulation and dispersion.

When such data are collected so as to show the mode of transportation, and when such studies are repeated over a period of time, they are very valuable in showing changing trends in modes of transportation. Such cordon data are also very useful in studying the parking demands and curb-parking regulations

in the area. They are of fundamental value in connection with the staggering of hours of employment in different groups of businesses so as to lower the peak traffic loads imposed on local transit and the street system.

Since the concentration of traffic both as to time and location is the principal factor in the downtown traffic congestion, studies designed to give a better understanding of such concentrations, and upon interpretation to indicate possible remedies, are of very real importance in the development of highway transportation policies and improvement programs.

Such studies are particularly useful when repeated year by year so that changes can be analyzed.

SPEED AND DELAY DATA The facility with which traffic moves on an artery is of prime importance to its users and to those responsible for traffic conditions. Production of more expeditious flow on an artery, with few stops and delays, is one of the traffic-improvement measures most appreciated by motorists and users of public transportation.

Studies of speed and delay are an essential basis for the devising of improvements. Reasons for delays must be determined. Data obtained will show the comparative facility of movement on various arteries and hence will be useful in routing studies. In determining the best interrelationship between traffic signal intervals in a progressive signal system, PAGE THIRTY-FIVE

speed and delay data are needed, though due consideration must be given to the effects of various proposed improvements.

Speed and delay data are also necessary for deciding upon safe approach speeds on cross streets. They show where speed zoning or speed enforcement may be needed. Speed should

also be considered in deciding on street lighting, traffic and street-name lettering sizes, the handling of traffic complaints, and the establishment of through streets. Speed and delay data should be obtained both before and after improvements so as to measure results and provide public information about them.

ACCIDENT STUDIES Increasingly the general public is coming to understand that, in large measure, traffic accidents are very expensive and needless. The accident situation in a Province or city is now used as a major measure of the effectiveness of those in charge of highway transportation.

Accidents are an indication of something wrong—often of several things wrong. Many of these wrong conditions can be corrected, frequently quite easily and inexpensively if they are known.

Hence, from numerous viewpoints, thorough accident studies are essential. Since most such studies must be based on reports submitted by drivers and in some cases by police, the adequacy of the report form and of the reporting should be studied. Significant of completeness of reporting are the ratios to fatal accidents of personal injury accidents and those involving $25 or more of property damage.

Studies should be made of the locations and times of accidents and of wrong practices involved. These data are the customary basis of a selective enforcement program designed to reduce accidents. They are also important when decisions are to be made respecting the use of traffic control devices, the improvement of street lighting, the determination of through streets and special routes, and the location of public transportation stops. The worst accident locations (mainly intersections in cities) should be studied by means of collision diagrams, condition diagrams, and field observations. Experience has shown that such studies frequently result in remedies which reduce the toll by large percentages.

Studies should be made of drivers involved in accidents.

By keeping proper driver record files, it is possible to "spot" those who are building up a bad record and hence to deal with them through driver-clinic analysis or personal interview. This type of record and its proper use are especially important for transit and trucking companies.

Studies made before and after installation of improvement devices or measures serve several useful purposes. First, they show what results were achieved: what over-all reductions, what kinds of accidents were and were not reduced, what changes in severity occurred. They help to prove which kinds of devices and measures are effective for which kinds of situations. They permit easily understandable before - and - after diagrams to be made and publicized.

Various kinds of accident researches are needed, as, for example, on the relative importance of different causative factors, the relative merit of different ways of improving the driver's ability to see satisfactorily at night, and the importance of excessive alcohol in the body fluids of drivers and pedestrians.

In almost every aspect of highway transportation, traffic accident facts are needed. Properly gathered, analyzed, and used, they will have exceedingly important effects on the design of highways, traffic operational engineering, legislation, administration of driver licensing in various parts of highway transportation work, and enforcement of traffic laws.

PAGE THIRTY-SIX

SPECIFIC-USE TRAFFIC STUDIES Among the important types of traffic studies needed for specific uses are (1) parking and loading studies and (2) studies

of routings. There is also frequent need for special investigations.

PARKING AND LOADING STUDIES As parking and loading problems are at the forefront in nearly every community, they should receive intensive study.

Such study should cover: (1) an inventory of existing parking facilities and their uses throughout the day and night both on the street and off-street; (2) parking demand in terms of origins of the trips which terminate in such parking; (3) variations in parking demands during different periods of the day and night; (4) study of uses and values of land as an aid in finding suitable areas which can most economically be used for Off-street parking facilities; (5) analysis of legislation affecting parking, including Provincial enabling legislation for the creation of parking authorities or agencies to carry out an effective community parking program; (6) analysis of zoning ordinances and any

licensing or other regulations affecting parking; (7) thorough study of loading facilities, demands, and practices; (8) study of effective ideas on parking being utilized by other communities, including the requirement in zoning ordinances that new buildings must provide Off-street parking and loading space.

Provisions of satisfactory parking facilities will necessarily require large sums of money, though to a very considerable extent these investments can be recovered, as through parking fees paid. Yet the provisions of such facilities is of vital importance to the stabilization and maintenance of property values in the downtown district. This important aspect of the traffic problem therefore warrants exceedingly thorough study.

ROUTINGS Because they can have great effect on the facility of traffic movement, several kinds of traffic routings and one-way traffic movement should be given careful study.

Routing of through traffic, while usually not of the importance some used to think it was, is still an important traffic measure. Often a particularly busy or congested district can be bypassed to advantage by through traffic. Studies should consider the routes simplest to follow, by day or night, usually through streets, and the best means of removing the objections of merchants in the business district by indicating an alternative route to the district and leaving it to the motorist to choose.

Determination of best transit routings calls for study of volumes of transit traffic, its origins and destinations, and present transfer requirements. The study should cover population, employment, and characteristics of the areas served in conjunction with the distribution of local transit service. The mass distribution of present and prospective passengers as well as the average number of passengers per unit, zones or areas covered, daily fluctuations and hourly distributions of transit traffic, and characteristics of unserved areas are all essential data in connection with the routing of transit movement.

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SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS From time to time throughout the planning, development, and operation of highway traffic facilities it becomes necessary to make special investigations into particular problems which arise. Such studies may relate to the best highway improvements and traffic measures at some complicated location. Special congestion problems, such as in the produce

section of a city, may require study. Studies of pedestrian or bicycling problems may be warranted, or of pavement conditions or special lighting problems. Experience has shown that numerous such special studies must be expected from year to year. Indeed, special studies often take up a fairly high percentage of the time of personnel working on traffic studies.

ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION, AND DEVELOPMENT OF BEST IMPROVEMENT MEASURES In conclusion it must be pointed out again that important as facts are, the biggest hurdle comes in their interpretation and in the development of the appropriate highway transportation improvements indicated by a synthesis of all of the facts relating to a particular problem. Only competent, experienced personnel can assure the kind of interpretation, conclusions,

and recommendations which are now needed as highway traffic grows and develops.

NOEL DANT, Town Planner.

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