Destinations from Adamson Square

The graphic above shows destinations reachable within a five- and 15-minute walk from Adamson Square. The inner circle represents a five-minute walk from the center of Adamson Square, while the outer circle shows destinations within a 15-minute walk.

Planning professionals at the UGA Institute of Government have worked with over two dozen cities across Georgia on community-driven master plans since 2013. In every one of these communities, from tiny rural towns to regional economic hubs, residents claimed to have a parking problem downtown. In reality, every town has some kind of parking problem. In rural areas across the state, population decline has left businesses shuttered and downtowns awash in a sea of vacant parking spots. Successful, growing downtowns that retain their character of place will never be able to match the surfeit of available parking residents encounter at auto-centric grocery stores and big box outlets. Visiting these thriving areas requires driving a little farther out to park and walk to downtown destinations.

Downtown Carrollton’s walkable square acts as the community’s living room. Residents from throughout Carroll County and beyond flock downtown for events at the Amp, a good meal, or a night on the town. If the parking spaces at the square are occupied, visitors have ample opportunities to park on-street, in rear parking areas, or in one of the city’s two downtown parking decks. Concentrating on improving the walk from these areas to the square could help solve Carrollton’s perceived parking problem. Ensuring a safe and inviting pedestrian experience and clearly indicating parking areas with distinctive signage could go a long way to address the issues raised by residents.

As the hub of the surrounding rural and suburban region, the overwhelming majority of local residents visiting downtown arrive by car. As such, local leaders must carefully consider downtown parking. Parking is particularly important for preserving viable small businesses downtown. According to Main Street America, each on-street parking space generates roughly $10,000 in annual retail sales for nearby businesses. On-street parking also helps calm traffic speeds by shrinking oversized travel lanes. Drivers proceed more carefully when confronted with the threat of cars entering or leaving on-street spaces. By shielding pedestrians from traffic, onstreet parking can also encourage a vibrant street life with uses like sidewalk dining. Streets feel safer to explore on foot when a few tons of parked steel separate pedestrians from moving traffic.

Carrollton and Carroll County have made significant investments to ensure sufficient parking capacity downtown. Two parking decks constructed within the past two decades include 558 spaces within a five-minute walk of the square. These decks contain nearly half of the total parking capacity available downtown. In conversations with community members during step one of the RSVP process, many residents still see parking as an issue downtown. While some residents appreciate the availability of free parking in the city’s parking decks, others noted that parking downtown is problematic during lunchtime, events, and peak times.

To address these needs, some residents suggested an additional downtown parking deck. In reality, neither of the two surface lots behind the square are sizable enough to develop an efficient deck. A new parking deck would also be an extremely expensive project, with the Metro Atlanta average garage construction costs of $75.97 per square foot or $25,473 per parking stall. These costs are just averages; actual costs can be far higher. Prioritizing a portion of that funding to enhance downtown walkability and direct more visitors to the existing decks could significantly expand accessibility without the costly addition of a new parking deck. Compared to other downtown parking, the city’s existing decks are not used to their full potential. Residents saw the need to maximize use of the existing decks with better signage directing visitors to these resources.

These views echo a 2015 parking study commissioned by the city. This study found that while only 56 spaces, or 4% of total parking spaces downtown, exist in Adamson Square, the occupancy rate of these spaces averaged 93%. To those without experience using the rear parking lots or decks, occupied parking spaces at the square make parking appear unavailable downtown. Many residents see the need for enhanced enforcement of two-hour parking time limits in the square to help encourage more turnover in these spaces. In contrast, the occupancy rate of the city’s parking decks averaged just 26% over a three-day study period.

While locals know these parking decks are free resources and know how to access them, an outside visitor would likely find navigating to the parking decks unnecessarily challenging. Most visitors to downtown arrive to the area via Alabama Street from US-27. Vehicles currently cannot turn onto Barnes Avenue from Alabama Street, making the most clearly indicated parking deck entry inaccessible. Visitors seeking to use the deck must instead drive into the square through two red lights, take a left onto Rome Street, turn either into an unmarked alleyway or make two additional left turns to access the deck they just passed. Combined with a lack of clear signage, this convoluted access helps explain why the city’s decks aren’t used to their full potential. If visitors miss this deck entirely, they could still access the city-county deck by continuing down Newnan Street. However, this deck is set back much farther from the street than surrounding buildings, making it less visible to out-of-town motorists. This deck also lacks signage identifying it as a free, public parking deck.

Toole Design Group conducted a parking study that indicates parking capacity is more than adequate for day-to-day demand. Above and beyond the parking counts included in the study, the city maintains a public lot behind city hall with an additional 150 spaces and an even newer public parking lot at the corner of Bradley Street and Lee Street with over 100 spaces. Six large parking areas at churches and private businesses are also available during downtown events. However, as indicated both in public input sessions and in the parking study, Carrollton has a parking wayfinding and accessibility problem. The city and county have spent millions of dollars to construct two parking decks and make their 558 spaces available to the public. Not properly indicating these resources and restricting the use of these facilities with unnecessary complicated access points minimizes the impact of these significant public investments.

In the design phase of the Carrollton RSVP process, Institute of Government planners met with city leaders and local engineers to help address the accessibility of the Barnes Street parking facility. Local leaders and engineers agreed to develop a design solution to this area that will allow left turns onto Barnes Street. This single small change will significantly improve access to this important resource. Like this fairly simple example, the designs that follow show how the city can highlight existing parking opportunities for downtown visitors. Through attractive wayfinding signage that complements the city’s existing branding, local leaders can help optimize downtown parking patterns and encourage more use of existing decks and rear surface lots. Developed by community branding professionals at the UGA Institute of Government in consultation with city leaders, the concepts that follow help connect visitors to parking areas and create a more accessible and inviting downtown for all.

Over the past 50 years, the built environment has been reshaped to suit the needs of the car, resulting in vast expanses of land dedicated to parking and auto-centric development unsafe to explore on foot. In humanscaled, historic locations like downtown Carrollton, walkability must reign supreme to preserve the qualities visitors love about the area. Balancing the need for accessible parking with preserving the unique qualities that draw the community downtown must remain a key priority for local leaders.