How To Create A Parking Lot Plan

When building a parking lot, it’s important to create a well-thought-out parking lot plan. Poorly designed parking lot layouts can discourage people from visiting a business, disrupt the flow of traffic, and generally cause chaos. Properly planning out a parking lot lets businesses improve their customer experience and potentially their reputation.

Your parking lot layout design should consider size, space, regulations, safety, security, and more. Here’s what goes into creating an effective parking lot design.

Here are the necessary steps to follow to create the best possible parking lot plan:

The design of your parking lot depends on why you’re creating it in the first place. So, your first step is to determine your goal. Are you adding extra parking at a movie theater or a clothing shop? Are you planning a parking lot for a new apartment complex or a hotel? Or maybe you’re revamping the existing parking area at a gas station. Each of these use cases will require a different parking lot design.

You also need to consider who will be using the parking lot. Car drivers coming to park at a restaurant will have different needs than long-haul truck drivers parking overnight at rest stops along the highway. Keep in mind the unique needs that your parking lot users will have when planning your parking lot layout.

The purpose of your lot also influences details like:

• Size

• Pavement thickness

• Space angles 

The purpose of your parking lot will influence how big the lot needs to be. Many cities and towns around the United States have minimum parking laws that you’ll need to consider, so be sure to check your local laws.

Certain industries and types of establishments also have specific parking code requirements. In these cases, the square footage of the building or facility is calculated to determine how big the parking lot needs to be. Some sectors, such as hotels and movie theaters, rely on calculating the number of seats or rooms.

The recommended amount of space will also depend on the kind of corporation you’re running. A university campus, for example, will require more parking spaces than a bookstore or a restaurant. 

The standard size for a parking lot will vary depending on the city, the type of business it serves, and any industry requirements. However, there are a few ways to calculate your parking lot's size.

The best parking lots will have well-optimized and safe layouts. According to the National Safety Council, tens of thousands of crashes happen in parking lots and garages every year, leading to hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries. So, it’s essential to design your parking lot with safety in mind.

Here are some things to consider when creating a safe parking lot plan.

Choosing the right parking space design will help create a safer parking lot. 90-degree parking spaces might be the easiest to design, but you should also consider the safety benefits of other types of spaces. As we discussed above, angled spaces can make it easier (and safer) for cars to move in and out of spaces.

You should also consider how you’ll mark out each parking space, whether you’ll add padding space between the lines, and whether you’ll add sidewalks or pathways for pedestrians outside the flow of traffic.

Whatever safety elements you decide to add, it’s important to remember that drivers expect parking lots to look a certain way. So don’t go crazy and choose a wacky layout. Go for standard choices that will be predictable and safer for drivers and pedestrians. 

Wheel stops (also called curb stops or parking blocks) are barriers placed at the end of parking spaces to prevent drivers from driving past the front end of a parking space. These barriers also help prevent cars from damaging the landscape or buildings near the parking lot.

Robson Forensic found that wheel stops are often tripping hazards for pedestrians, so make sure any you include are visible and properly illuminated.

How you pave your parking lot will contribute to its safety and longevity. The asphalt should be designed with drainage in mind. Water is powerful, and if you don’t consider it in your parking lot design, it will make its own path, leading to potential flooding and cracks in the paving — both of which can be safety hazards.

Design catch basins and inlets to keep standing water away from the asphalt. You should also slope the asphalt at a minimum of 2% so water doesn’t accumulate at the edges of the pavement.

These drainage details are an essential part of your parking plan design. 

Security is a crucial consideration when planning a parking lot. You want to ensure your parking lot is a secure and safe environment for anyone using it. After all, people are leaving their cars in your parking lot — they’ll want to know that they’re in safe hands.

Here are some things you can do to increase the security of your parking lot layout. 

A well-lit parking lot is a safe and secure parking lot. Poor lighting can lead to crashes if drivers can’t see where to go. Dark parking lots are also more likely to cause pedestrian trips and falls. Bad actors may take advantage of poor lighting, encouraging theft and crime.

To mitigate these issues, your light fixtures should properly cover all areas of your parking lot in the dark. They should make it easy for drivers and pedestrians to see where they’re going without creating any glare for drivers.

Ensure areas around building doors are well-lit and pedestrian pathways are bright and visible. Your parking lot's high-traffic areas, such as entrances, exits, and loading zones, should also include extra lighting to give users extra visibility. 

If you want or need to restrict access to your parking lot, consider adding secure barriers at entrances and exits. For example, you might want to limit access to a parking lot to residents of an apartment building or employees of a certain company. In these cases, choose barriers that are opened by keycards or access codes.

If you plan to charge people to park, you can install ticket barriers that require people to take a ticket when they enter and pay at a station within the parking lot or at the barrier when they exit.

Remember that these barriers will take up space in your parking lot, so factor that space into your design. 

Creating a detailed parking lot plan will make construction easier, keep parking lot traffic flowing smoothly, and make it safer for pedestrians. Hopefully, the information in this guide will help you get started with your parking lot layout.

If you’re considering buying a parking lot as an investment, we discuss that in our blog post, Buying A Parking Lot For Business.

For more information on creating other plot plan types, MySitePlan can help. We offer residential and commercial site plans for your backyard, home, or office space. Get in touch with MySitePlan today to see how we can help.