Parking Management

The North Central Council of Governments' (NCTCOG) Parking Management activities, including the North Texas Parking Management Toolbox, support local parking management plans and policies that can help North Texas achieve a more efficient transportation system and a more sustainable region.  See the video above to learn why managing parking is critical to regional sustainability. 
    

Is North Texas building too much parking?  The current parking supply decision process often lacks adequate information and can highly overestimate demand, resulting in parking oversupply. More observed data on parking use could help our region build more efficiently.  

A 2018 Transit-Oriented Development Parking Study focused near Dallas Area Rapid Transit stations found that 13  of the 16 studied sites never peaked above 80 percent parking capacity. This excess parking exceeded 4,500 total spaces meaning an estimated $80 million in constructed parking value went unused.  

NCTCOG is launching a Regional Parking Database with the goal of increasing local knowledge of observed parking demand and insight for efficient management and development codes.

The Database will be an ongoing collection of regional parking utilization data from a sample of local sites. Read more about the project here.

 



NCTCOG is calling on property managers and owners from across the region to volunteer their properties for parking utilization studies. Properties included in NCTCOG’s parking database will build the knowledge from which more efficient parking can be achieved in the Dallas-Fort Worth region.

Who can participate?

  • Property managers/owners
  • Properties located within Dallas-Fort Worth region (NCTCOG's 12-county region of Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant, and Wise counties)
  • Most commercial property types, including
    • Industrial/warehouse uses
    • Entertainment/theaters/gyms
    • Restaurants
    • Retail (all types)
    • Office
    • Hospitality/hotels
    • Multi-family residential/apartments
    • Mixed-use sites

The study currently  will not include single-family housing properties, entire neighborhoods, or districts.
To participate, submit a property to be included in the study by filling out the Property Owner/Manager Survey below.

    
Complete Survey Online Download Fillable PDF

To add a large number of properties in one request, for assistance completing the form, or if you have any questions, contact Catherine Osborn at cosborn@nctcog.org.


Education and Resources

 NCTCOG has collected examples of local parking studies and other resources to assist local governments in best practices in parking management (see drop-down panels below). 

NCTCOG's Parking Events and Symposiums provide a forum for sharing local parking management best practices and strategies addressing future development.

NCTCOG's Summary of North Texas Local Parking Studies provides an understanding of shared parking issues and insights from walkable places in the North Texas region. 

 
Study [PDF] City Context Topics
Cedar Hill Parking Management Study (2022) Cedar Hill Cedar Hill historic downtown, 587 spaces, on-street and off-street lots Supply and demand study, wayfinding and management strategies, code amendment recommending a 40% reduction
Mansfield Downtown Development Strategies (2020) - Parking Content Excerpted Mansfield Historic downtown, 1,140 spaces, on-street, off-street lots Supply and demand study, management strategies supporting walkable downtown development
Downtown Wylie Parking Review and Recommendations (2019) Wylie 209 on-street and 593 off-street parking spaces within about 7 blocks of historic downtown Wylie On-street/off-street utilization, wayfinding, district-wide parking needs and strategies
Dallas Midtown Autonomous Transportation System and Shared Parking Feasibility Study - Section 2  (2019) Dallas Plan recommending district wide mobility solutions including shared parking for new dense walkable development Shared parking, demand analysis and forecast
Dallas Road Transit District Parking Study (2019) Grapevine Main Street and Dallas Road Transit District.  279 on-street spaces and 2,240 off-street spaces On-street/off-street utilization, transit coordination, wayfinding, and phased implementation of multiple parking strategies
Downtown Decatur Parking Inventory and Analysis (2019) Decatur 12 blocks of town square area.
674 on- and off-street spaces
On-street/off-street utilization, time limits, way-finding, shared parking opportunities
Arlington Parking Needs Analysis Technical Memorandum (2019) Arlington one-half square mile historic downtown High-level needs assessment, shared parking model, conceptual cost of parking facilities, automated vehicles impact
TOD Parking Study (2019) Dallas, Plano,
Richardson, Garland
16 transit-oriented developments,
15, 201 off-street spaces
TOD Parking Study (2019)
Historic Town Center Parking Study Update (2019) McKinney 50+ block of historic town center. 
2,989 spaces off and on-street
On-Street/off-street utilization,
Valet parking pilot, wayfinding recommendations
Granite Properties -
Office Parking
(2019)
Dallas, Plano, Addison 10 office properties
8,515 off-street spaces
Suburban and urban locations
Class A office parking utilization,
recommended ratio 2.05 spaces
per 1,000 square feet in DFW
Magnolia Village Parking
Circulation Study
(2019)
Fort Worth Corridor (27 blocks)
999 on-street spaces
Historic urban mixed use
On-street utilization, assessment of
paid parking implementation,
residential permit program
Preston Center Parking
Study Memo
(2016)
Dallas District (10 blocks)
1440 garage spaces
76 surface lot spaces
406 on-street spaces
Urban mixed use office/retail
Utilization by facility,
duration/turnover for street
parking, district wide parking
needs and strategies
Downtown Parking Study (2016) Plano District (18 blocks)
388 on-street spaces
3,571 off-street spaces
Historic suburban downtown,
mixed use retail and residential
Utilization for all downtown
parking, future parking supply,
comprehensive parking strategy recommendations

Please contact NCTCOG staff listed at the bottom of this web page to add a local study to this table.

 
 

Competition for curbside space continues to increase and change with the evolution of competing modes of transportation and new technologies. The Curb Management Regional Planning Guide was developed to provide cities with the knowledge and tools to plan for and attain enhanced curbside management that most effectively balances the curb’s many potential uses.

NCTCOG's Travel Demand Management (TDM) program can help to reduce parking demand by addressing the demand side of travel behavior.


Staff: Travis Liska