FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

COURSE NAME : TRANSPORTATION STUDIES

COURSE CODE : CIV-TRA-411

ASSIGNMENT TITLE : PARKING STUDIES

SUBMITTED TO : MR. W. MZEMBE

SUBMITTED BY : TEAM 3 MEMBERS

MARK CHING’OMBE – BCES/21/ME/022
LEONARD M’BWANA – BCET/19/SS/010
HOLENCE KACHEPA – BCES/19/SS/006
SHEILA MPOYA – BCES/16/SS/011
TAMIKA MTAWALI – BCES/19/SS/012
MIKE MWINJIRO – BCEW/19/SS/010
INNOCENT KALONDA – BCET/17/SS/006
DUE DATE : 05TH MAY, 2023

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 PARKING STUDIES

INTRODUCTION

1. Any vehicle traveling on a highway will at one time or another be parked for either a
relatively short time or a much longer time, depending on the reason for parking.

2. Due to increased population, vehicles are outnumbering existing parking spaces,

o Thus, congesting roads.

o Incidences of violence over parking spaces,

o parking accidents,

o Overcharging for parking are some problems that result.

3. The planning and provision of parking facilities according to demand is therefore very
important.

DIFINITION OF TERMS

1. A space hour

a. A unit of parking that defines the use of a single parking space for a period of 1
hour.

2. Parking volume

a. The total number of vehicles that park in a study area during a specific length of
time, usually a day.

3. Parking accumulation

a. The number of parked vehicles in a study area at any specified time.

b. Shown as an accumulation curve

i. Plotted as parking accumulation against time,

ii. Shows the variation of the parking accumulation during the day.

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The Parking Load.

a. The area under the accumulation curve between two specific times.

b. Given as the number of space-hours used during the specified period of time

5.Parking duration

a. The length of time a vehicle is parked at a parking bay.

b. Average parking duration

i. Shows the availability frequency of the parking space.

6.Parking turnover
a. The rate of use of a parking space.
Parkingvolume
i.
Number of Parking spaces
TYPES OF PARKING FACILITIES
• Divided into two groups, namely: On street parking and Off-street parking
A. On-Street /curb Parking Facilities

a. Parking bays are provided alongside the curb on one or both sides of the street.
b. Unrestricted parking facilities
i. Duration of parking is unlimited and parking is free

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 ii. Parking is limited to specific times of the day for a maximum duration.
c. Restricted parking facilities
i. Parking service is at a fee/not free.
ii. Provided for specific purposes,
1. Handicapped parking
2. Bus stops
3. Loading bays

B. Off-Street Parking Facilities

a. Privately or publicly owned

i. Surface lots
ii. Garages
1. Self-parking garages
A. Drivers Park their own automobiles;
2. Attendant-parking

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 A. Garage personnel park the automobiles.
NEED FOR PARKING SPACE
 Great need in areas where land uses include business, residential, or commercial
activities.
 The growing use of the automobile as a personal feeder service to transit systems (“park-
and-ride”)
o increased parking space demand at transit stations.

 High density areas i.e., CBDs,

o Space is very expensive,

o High demand for parking space

o Meagre parking space to carter for both movement and parking

o To provide enough parking space

 The provision of parking bays along curbs
 Reduces the capacity of the streets
 Affects the level of service
PARKING STUDIES
1. Used to determine
a. the demand for and the supply of parking facilities in an area,
b. the projection of the demand,
c. the views of various interest groups on how best to solve the problems
2. Finally, the findings are used in the planning design of parking facilities.

PARKING DATA COLLECTION

1.1 Study area

The picture on next page is our study area which is located in Blantyre CBD;

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 The parking survey exercise was conducted in some selected streets of the Blantyre City
Central Business District. The streets include Stwart street, Haile Selassie (from Escom to
Stewart Street Junction) and the Shifa hospital parking lots.
Haile Selassie Lot (Escom house to Stewart Street Junction)
This parking lot has 51 parking spaces with a length of 100m. It is an on-street parking
facility. The arrangement of parking is at an angle to the main lane and also parallel to the
main lane.
Stewart street
A parking lot with 47 parking spaces, and having a length of 125m. This parking facility is
on street in nature with 99% of vehicles parking parallel to the main lane.
Shifa Hospital parking lot
Here, there are two parking lots, one having 26 parking spaces and the other having 15
parking spaces.
The parking study was carried out on a daily basis from 27TH to 28TH April,2023 starting from
6:00am through 15:30 pm.
2 Methodology
The following parking survey methods were employed:
2.1 Inventory of parking facilities
2.1.1 This was done manually and the following information about parking facilities was
recorded.
 The location, type and Condition of the parking facility
 The number of parking spaces.

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  Parking rates if appropriate.
 Time limits, Hours of availability and any other restrictions.
 Layout of spaces for instance, some had parallel and angular parking arrangement
 Ownership of the off-street facilities
2.2 Accumulation counts
 Accumulation data was obtained by recording the number of vehicles parked
during a particular set time interval on the different days the survey was
conducted.
 The 30-minute recording interval was used commencing from 7:00 am to 3:30
pm (Operational times of land use activities).
2.3 Duration and turnover surveys
The following Information was obtained from a sample of a given parking lot.
 The license plate of the vehicle parked on each parking space in the sample at the
ends of fixed intervals during the study period was be recoded.
 Number of vehicles that enter the parking lot and those that would leave the
parking lot at a particular interval (30 minutes) were recorded.
Number of different vehicles parked
 Turnover was then calculated from: T= Number of Parking spaces
3 Data collecting forms

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3.1

Figure 1Data colletcing form1

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Figure 2Data collecting form2

4 Results and data analysis

4.1 Inventory of parking facilities
The table below shows the parking inventory of the selected area of study
Parking facility Parking Rates Total Time Ownership Layout of Hours of
Number of limits spaces availability
Parking
spaces
Stewart street Mk200.00/hour 47 1 hour City council Parallel to the 6:30 – 4:30
lane
Shifa Hospital Free 52 No Private Perpendicular 24 hours
parking lot limit
Haile Selassie Mk200.00/hour 51 1 hour City council At an angle to 6:30 – 4:30
Avenue (ESCOM the main lane
house to Stewart
Street Junction)

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4.2 Accumulation counts
 Haile Selassie Avenue (ESCOM house to Stewart Street Junction)
Results gained from survey in the location for Haile Selassie Avenue is shown in
tabular form below:
Table 1 Accumulation counts for day 1

HAILE SELASSIE AVENUE (FROM ESCOM HOUSE TO NICO)

PERIOD ARRIVAL CUMMULATION DEPARTURE CUMMULATION ACCUMMULATION
6:30-7:00 0 6 0 0 6
7:00 - 7:30 14 20 6 6 14
7:30 - 8:00 18 38 20 26 12
8:00 - 8:30 16 54 5 31 23
8:30 - 9:00 8 62 4 35 27
9:00 - 9:30 5 67 3 38 29
9:30 - 10:00 8 75 3 41 34
10:00 - 10:30 10 85 5 46 39
10:30 - 11:00 6 91 4 50 41
11:00 - 11:30 12 103 6 56 47
11:30 - 12:00 6 109 10 66 43
12:00 - 12:30 8 117 12 78 39
12:30-13:00 7 124 14 92 32
13:00 - 13:30 10 134 9 101 33
13:30 - 14:00 13 147 11 112 35
14:00 - 14:30 11 158 6 118 40
14:30 - 15:00 10 168 5 123 45
15:00 - 15:30 6 174 4 127 47
TOTAL 168 1726 127 1146 580

Table 2 Accumulation counts for day 2

HAILE SELASSIE AVENUE (FROM ESCOM HOUSE TO NICO)

PERIOD ARRIVAL CUMMULATION DEPARTURE CUMMULATION ACCUMMULATION
6:30-7:00 0 4 0 0 4
7:00 - 7:30 15 19 3 3 16
7:30 - 8:00 12 31 5 8 23
8:00 - 8:30 9 40 6 14 26
8:30 - 9:00 9 49 7 21 28
9:00 - 9:30 7 56 6 27 29
9:30 - 10:00 8 64 1 28 36
10:00 - 10:30 6 70 5 33 37
10:30 - 11:00 3 73 2 35 38
11:00 - 11:30 5 78 4 39 39
11:30 - 12:00 7 85 8 47 38
12:00 - 12:30 11 96 9 56 40
12:30-13:00 8 104 13 69 35

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 13:00 - 13:30 10 114 5 74 40
13:30 - 14:00 4 118 6 80 38
14:00 - 14:30 5 123 3 83 40
14:30 - 15:00 3 126 2 85 41
15:00 - 15:30 8 134 4 89 45
TOTAL 130 1380 89 791 589
Based on Table.1 and 2, for day 1 and 2 respectively, 6 and 4 vehicles were found already parked
respectively. During the whole day, 168 and 130 vehicles entered the parking facility while, 127
and 89 vehicles exited the parking area. Accumulated vehicles that had accumulated this parking
lot during the two-day survey period is 580 and 589 vehicles respectively.
Table 3Accumulation curves plotted against time interval

HAILE SELASSIE
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 - 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30
11:00

DAY 1 ACCUMULATION DAY 2 ACCUMULATION Number of bays

Based on table 5, it can be concluded that higher number of vehicles in the parking were in the
time interval between 10:30 to 11:30, 13:00 – 15:00 below the capacity of the parking facility
which is 51.

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  STEWART STREET
Results gained from survey in the location for Haile Selassie Avenue is shown in
tabular form below:
Table 4Accumulation counts for day 1

STEWART STREET
PERIOD ARRIVAL CUMMULATION DEPARTURE CUMMULATION ACCUMMULATION
6:30-7:00 0 10 0 0 10
7:00 - 7:30 16 26 6 6 20
7:30 - 8:00 23 49 9 15 34
8:00 - 8:30 4 53 3 18 35
8:30 - 9:00 4 57 4 22 35
9:00 - 9:30 3 60 2 24 36
9:30 - 10:00 8 68 1 25 43
10:00 - 10:30 5 73 6 31 42
10:30 - 11:00 8 81 6 37 44
11:00 - 11:30 10 91 4 41 50
11:30 - 12:00 5 96 8 49 47
12:00 - 12:30 6 102 9 58 44
12:30-13:00 8 110 8 66 44
13:00 - 13:30 7 117 11 77 40
13:30 - 14:00 8 125 6 83 42
14:00 - 14:30 5 130 3 86 44
14:30 - 15:00 3 133 2 88 45
15:00 - 15:30 6 139 5 93 46
TOTAL 129 1510 93 819 691

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Table 5Accumulation counts for day 2

STEWART STREET
PERIOD ARRIVAL CUMMULATION DEPARTURE CUMMULATION ACCUMMULATION
6:30-7:00 0 5 0 0 5
7:00 - 7:30 13 18 4 4 14
7:30 - 8:00 11 29 3 7 22
8:00 - 8:30 10 39 6 13 26
8:30 - 9:00 6 45 5 18 27
9:00 - 9:30 8 53 3 21 32
9:30 - 10:00 13 66 2 23 43
10:00 - 10:30 6 72 3 26 46
10:30 - 11:00 5 77 6 32 45
11:00 - 11:30 6 83 3 35 48
11:30 - 12:00 4 87 7 42 45
12:00 - 12:30 8 95 5 47 48
12:30-13:00 6 101 8 55 46
13:00 - 13:30 9 110 11 66 44
13:30 - 14:00 10 120 3 69 51
14:00 - 14:30 8 128 4 73 55
14:30 - 15:00 3 131 2 75 56
15:00 - 15:30 6 137 4 79 58
TOTAL 132 1391 79 685 706
Based on Table.1 and 2, for day 1 and 2 respectively, 10 and 5 vehicles were found already
parked respectively. During the whole day, 129 and 132 vehicles entered the parking facility
while, 93 and 79 vehicles exited the parking area. Accumulated vehicles that had accumulated
this parking lot during the two-day survey period is 580 and 589 vehicles respectively.
Table 6Accumulation curves plotted against time interval

STEWART STREET
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 - 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30
11:00

DAY 1 ACCUMULATION DAY 2 ACCUMULATION Number of bays

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Based on table 6, it can be concluded that higher number of vehicles in the parking were in the
time interval between 10:30 to 11:30, 13:00 – 15:00 above the capacity of the parking facility
which is 47. This means, on this parking facility, there is more demand for parking space.

 Shifa Hospital parking Lot

Results gained from survey in the location for Haile Selassie Avenue is shown in tabular
form below:
Table 7Accummulation counts for day 1

SHIFA HOSPITAL
PERIOD ARRIVAL CUMMULATION DEPARTURE CUMMULATION ACCUMMULATION
6:30-7:00 0 0 0 0 0
7:00 - 7:30 12 12 5 5 7
7:30 - 8:00 17 29 4 9 20
8:00 - 8:30 8 37 1 10 27
8:30 - 9:00 10 47 3 13 34
9:00 - 9:30 6 53 2 15 38
9:30 - 10:00 0 53 1 16 37
10:00 - 10:30 4 57 4 20 37
10:30 - 11:00 5 62 6 26 36
11:00 - 11:30 4 66 4 30 36
11:30 - 12:00 2 68 8 38 30
12:00 - 12:30 9 77 10 48 29
12:30-13:00 8 85 9 57 28
13:00 - 13:30 3 88 6 63 25
13:30 - 14:00 5 93 4 67 26
14:00 - 14:30 4 97 2 69 28
14:30 - 15:00 6 103 2 71 32
15:00 - 15:30 4 107 5 76 31
TOTAL 107 1134 76 633 501

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Table 8 Accumulation counts for day2

SHIFA HOSPITAL
PERIOD ARRIVAL CUMMULATION DEPARTURE CUMMULATION ACCUMMULATION
6:30-7:00 0 0 0 0 0
7:00 - 7:30 8 8 4 4 4
7:30 - 8:00 10 18 3 7 11
8:00 - 8:30 12 30 6 13 17
8:30 - 9:00 9 39 4 17 22
9:00 - 9:30 10 49 7 24 25
9:30 - 10:00 5 54 4 28 26
10:00 - 10:30 9 63 3 31 32
10:30 - 11:00 8 71 5 36 35
11:00 - 11:30 6 77 4 40 37
11:30 - 12:00 5 82 8 48 34
12:00 - 12:30 4 86 10 58 28
12:30-13:00 9 95 7 65 30
13:00 - 13:30 11 106 5 70 36
13:30 - 14:00 8 114 4 74 40
14:00 - 14:30 3 117 2 76 41
14:30 - 15:00 6 123 6 82 41
15:00 - 15:30 7 130 6 88 42
TOTAL 130 1262 88 761 501
Table 9Accumulation curves plotted against time interval

SHIFA HOSPITAL
60

50

40

30

20

10

0
6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 10:30 - 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30
11:00

DAY 1 ACCUMULATION DAY 2 ACCUMULATION Number of bays

Based on table 9, it can be concluded that higher number of vehicles in the parking were in the
time interval between 9:00-9:30 and 13:30 - 14:00 below the capacity of the parking facility
which is 51. This means, there is enough parking space for activities here.

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4.3 Duration and turn over
The tables below summaries the parking turnover for all the three parking lots .
Number of different vehicles parked ( Acummulation)
Turnover =
Number of Parking spaces
HAILE SELASSIE AVENUE (FROM ESCOM HOUSE TO
NICO) SHIFA HOSPITAL
PERIOD TURNOVER     PERIOD TURNOVER    
  DAY1 DAY2 AVERAGE   DAY1 DAY2 AVERAGE
7:00 - 7:30 0.1 0.1 0.1 7:00 - 7:30 0 0 0
7:30 - 8:00 0.3 0.3 0.3 7:30 - 8:00 0.1 0.1 0.1
8:00 - 8:30 0.2 0.4 0.3 8:00 - 8:30 0.4 0.2 0.3
8:30 - 9:00 0.5 0.5 0.5 8:30 - 9:00 0.5 0.3 0.4
9:00 - 9:30 0.5 0.5 0.5 9:00 - 9:30 0.7 0.4 0.5
9:30 - 10:00 0.6 0.6 0.6 9:30 - 10:00 0.7 0.5 0.6
10:00 - 10:30 0.7 0.7 0.7 10:00 - 10:30 0.7 0.5 0.6
10:30 - 11:00 0.8 0.7 0.7 10:30 - 11:00 0.7 0.6 0.7
11:00 - 11:30 0.8 0.7 0.8 11:00 - 11:30 0.7 0.7 0.7
11:30 - 12:00 0.9 0.8 0.8 11:30 - 12:00 0.7 0.7 0.7
12:00 - 12:30 0.8 0.7 0.8 12:00 - 12:30 0.6 0.7 0.6
12:30-13:00 0.8 0.8 0.8 12:30-13:00 0.6 0.5 0.5
13:00 - 13:30 0.6 0.7 0.7 13:00 - 13:30 0.5 0.6 0.6
13:30 - 14:00 0.6 0.8 0.7 13:30 - 14:00 0.5 0.7 0.6
14:00 - 14:30 0.7 0.7 0.7 14:00 - 14:30 0.5 0.8 0.6
14:30 - 15:00 0.8 0.8 0.8 14:30 - 15:00 0.5 0.8 0.7
15:00-15:30 0.9 0.8 0.8 15:00-15:30 0.6 0.8 0.7

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 STEWART STREET

PERIOD TURNOVER    

  DAY1 DAY2 STEWART

7:00 - 7:30 0.2 0.1 0.2

7:30 - 8:00 0.4 0.3 0.4

8:00 - 8:30 0.7 0.5 0.6

8:30 - 9:00 0.7 0.6 0.6

9:00 - 9:30 0.7 0.6 0.7

9:30 - 10:00 0.8 0.7 0.7

10:00 - 10:30 0.9 0.9 0.9

10:30 - 11:00 0.9 1.0 0.9

11:00 - 11:30 0.9 1.0 0.9

11:30 - 12:00 1.1 1.0 1.0

12:00 - 12:30 1.0 1.0 1.0

12:30-13:00 0.9 1.0 1.0

13:00 - 13:30 0.9 1.0 1.0

13:30 - 14:00 0.9 0.9 0.9

14:00 - 14:30 0.9 1.1 1.0

14:30 - 15:00 0.9 1.2 1.1

15:00-15:30 1.0 1.2 1.1

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Table 10Average turnover for the three parking facilities

AVERAGE TURNOVER
1.2

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0
6:30 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
- - - - - - - 10:00 10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00
7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30 10:00 - - - - - - - - - - -
10:30 11:00 11:30 12:00 12:30 13:00 13:30 14:00 14:30 15:00 15:30

HAILE SELASSIE SHIFA STEWART

From the average turn over graphs, the Haile Selassie parking facility has the highest turnover
compared to the other two parking facilities. The reason being, most of the people who park here
stay temporarily to do shopping as there are a lot of shops here. On the other hand, Stewart and
Shifa Parking facilities accommodate vehicles whose drivers destination to work , hence once
they park in the morning, the move out after knocking off.

5 Conclusion

From the findings, Shifa hospital parking facility has an adequate parking space. There is need
for more parking space in Steward Street as accumulation during peak hours exceed the number
of parking spaces available. For High Selassie Street, more and detailed survey is required to
determine if there is need for more parking space as during the current survey the accumulation
for peak hours is nearly the number of parking spaces.

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 REFFERENCES
1. IRC-106, guidelines for capacity of urban roads in plain areas (1990), table.1, page-10.

2. Sivasubramanian. J and malarvizhi. G (2009) (journal). A System Dynamics

Methodology for Accessing Parking Demand for Commercial Shopping Area, Dept. of

Civil Eng., Anna University, Chennai.

3. S.K.Khanna, C.E.G. JUSTO, Nem Chand & Bros, Highway Engineering, Roorkee

Publications, 9th Edition 2011

4. Kothari C.R., 2nd edition, Research Methodology, New Age International Publishers.

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