Approach towards parking management in CBD: case of Raipur

Abstract

Parking is an essential component of the transportation system. Parking facilities are a major cost to society. Parking problems can be often defined either in terms of inadequate supply or in terms of management (available facilities are used inefficiently and should be better managed). Planning for parking in any urban area is a challenging task because of unpredictable growth of vehicles, rising congestion in cities and limited availability of land. Growing rate of vehicles have put a tremendous pressure on urban transportation system. Each vehicle sold brings parking space requirements to an already inadequate parking infrastructure in Raipur. In such a scenario it is very important to define parking problems carefully. Generous parking supply is part of a cycle that leads to increased automobile dependency, since abundant parking supply increases vehicle use and urban sprawl, causing parking demand and parking supply to ratchet further upward. Thus there is a need to critically understand and analyze the prevailing parking problems in the city and its future implications and suggest solutions which leads to a sustainable and comprehensive development improving traffic congestion problems in the city. This study is an attempt to analyze the existing parking problems, parking pattern, Parking demand, factors affecting parking and assess the applicability of various parking management strategies. The basic objectives of this particular study is to understand the need and demand of parking and to identify a set of parking management strategies to meet the assessed parking requirements in the study area. In this study I would like to shed some light on the perception of the urban parking problems and also planning the proposals and parking recommendations for improving the overall parking scenario of the study areas.