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 is an ongoing collection of regional parking utilization data from a sample of local sites. Continue reading below to participate.
NCTCOG is calling on property managers and owners from across the region to count parked cars at their properties in coordination with NCTCOG to be included in a regional database. Properties included in the 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.
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| 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 Travis Liska at tliska@nctcog.org.
For those providing data to NCTCOG, please see our Data Collection Guide for standards on submitting studies.
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.
Deep Ellum Parking District Study
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.
- ULI's Research Report on Parking Policy in the US provides a searchable database of recent examples of parking policy reforms.
- A study of residential parking adjacent to station areas by Metro Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD) is a good example of how to conduct a regional parking study.
- The Perfect Fit Parking database is a resource for context-sensitive parking utilization for Metro Boston.
- The Victoria Transport Policy Institute contains a good source of compiled lists of data and studies relating to Parking topics.
- The Metropolitan Transportation Commission in California has a parking policy to support smart growth and developed a parking model.
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