The design of a parking lot can either help your business or hurt it. A poorly designed parking lot can be confusing and cause aggravation for customers, tennants, and employees alike. These spaces can also affect safety, increase the number of minor accidents, and decrease the quality of pavement. On the other hand, a well designed parking lot should be safe and easy to navigate.
Where does your parking lot design fall?
Whether you are preparing to install a brand new parking lot on a commercial lot or you are redoing your current one, understanding what makes a parking lot well designed is important. Before you install your new lot, read these best practices for designing a lot that is functional and safe for all types of traffic.
Best Practices
When designing a new parking lot, take these best practices into consideration.
Who Will Be Using The Parking Lot?
When designing a parking lot, it is important to keep in mind who will be utilizing the lot. A crucial factor is the vehicle weight. For example, a parking lot that is going to have semi trucks and trailers driving over or parking on will need additional support and asphalt. On the contrary, passenger vehicles weigh much less and require less asphalt.
Additionally, considering who will be using the parking lot could affect the layout. Examine how long someone may need to park in your parking lot, location and its accessibility to buildings, offices, or public areas, and the consumers of those areas. For example, if your parking lot serves a strip mall, there are a number of consumers to consider. You have the people going there to shop who may be there for only a short amount of time, but also your lot will provide spaces for the employees who may work up to 8 hours a day. Local regulations may also dictate the number of spaces you need along with ADA regulations.
How Can You Maximize The Utilization Of The Space?
Getting the most out of your parking lot is essential to consider while designing it. Are you wanting to get the most parking lot spaces into the space as you can? Do you want to provide green space and trees? What type of lighting are you going to provide and what are the space requirements for that? Does your parking lot need shopping cart corrals?
All of these factors will help guide the design. Parking spaces are another piece to the design puzzle. Typically, straight spaces offer more parking spaces than angled spaces, however, experts say that angled spaces provide additional safety and efficiency within a parking lot. Straight spaces require a larger turner radius and two-way traffic while angled spaces typically utilize one-way traffic lanes. Both have their advantages and disadvantages to consider while designing your parking lot.
Consider Traffic Flow
How a parking lot’s traffic flows can either make it a success or an absolute nightmare, especially when a lot of traffic is using it. The flow will be based on several factors:
- Parking lot location and access to main roads
- Pathway to main building entrances
- Parking lot entrance & exit paths
- Parking spaces and angles
- Traffic directions and signage visibility
There are several considerations to manage when designing a parking lot. Visualizing the space and how it will be used will help determine traffic flow. Again, taking into consideration how long vehicles will be parked and who will be using the lot is essential. For example, guests typically look for the shortest route to the main building entrance. Some guests also consider the easiest way to leave and will look for the best way to turn left or right out of the parking space, aisle, and lot.
Consideration & Expertise
As you can see, there is a lot of consideration and visualization to designing a parking lot. If you are in need of parking lot design support, contact Toste Construction today! Our team can help you determine the best design for your space. We also offer professional line striping to help you execute the design. Call our office today to schedule your FREE estimate.
Toste Construction specializes in sealcoating and crack filling to ensure you and your customers have a smooth surface to drive on. We are your Mooresville asphalt and pavement maintenance company. Our services include asphalt sealcoating, striping, patching, pothole repair and crack filling for both residential and commercial projects throughout western North Carolina.