Parking lots are more than just spaces to leave cars. For businesses, these structures are vital. They allow employees and consumers to have a safe space to leave their vehicles so they can enter the building and complete their business. Most cities and states even have minimum parking lot requirements that new developments must meet before building to ensure accessibility for all. However, if surface parking lots are not maintained, they discourage accessibility, hurting a business’s bottom line. That’s why, as a landscape architecture firm, we offer specialized parking lot design services, including maintenance consultations, because well-maintained and efficiently designed parking lots are crucial to a development’s success.
The importance of parking lot maintenance
Each year, over 50,000 accidents occur in parking lots across the country. According to CBS News Reports, This accounts for over 20% of all vehicle accidents in the United States. That’s a significant area with over 2 billion parking spaces (CNN) across the country. For businesses and building developments that have parking lot spaces, a well-maintained parking lot is in their best interests. Poorly maintained lots can cause accidents, and business and building developers could be liable for damages in their parking lots. To keep parking lots safe requires addressing basic maintenance issues like:
- Potholes and cracks: Most parking lots are covered with asphalt, which begins to break down over time. Damage occurs from weather changes, water, and vehicle weight quickly on asphalt surfaces, and once it starts, it tends to get worse. If an asphalt crack or hole forms, it will only get bigger as water penetrates the subbase, weakening the foundation. Regular asphalt repairs are often needed to keep parking lots well-maintained.
- Sinking: Parking lots are essentially a large, weighted cover over the original ground surface. When parking lots are built, they must be leveled appropriately and stabilized to ensure a solid foundation for the parking lot surface. But over time, it’s common for the ground beneath the foundation to shift, which can cause sinking, leading to the development of potholes, cracks, and even sinkholes.
- Overgrowth: Poor landscaping maintenance around and in parking lots can also lead to overgrowth as weeds and grasses grow over the asphalt service and in cracks and holes. Without regular landscaping care, this growth can begin to break down the asphalt surface and lead to costly maintenance and repairs.
What is the cost of parking lot maintenance?
Parking lots are not cheap. CNN estimates that constructing a single parking space can cost around $28,000, and in high-density areas like New York City, the cost can rise to as much as $36,000. The initial parking lot installation is a significant cost for building developers and businesses. However, parking lots require regular maintenance to remain usable, which can add substantial maintenance costs to a building or business’s budget. Some typical maintenance costs may include:
- Regular sweeping and cleaning
- Snow removal
- Asphalt repairs, including crack and pothole sealing
- Repaving
- Line painting
- Signage
- Curb stop improvements or replacement
Each year, businesses and building owners with parking lots must set aside a significant portion of their maintenance funds for regular parking lot upkeep. As a landscape architecture firm, we offer a service that may help make this process easier. To assess the damage, we do paving consultations, including visual inspections and surface testing. We then use this information to provide our clients with recommended maintenance budgeting and parking lot redesigns. With the help of our consulting team, our clients can make informed decisions regarding their parking lot maintenance needs.
Project Spotlight: Calvin L. Rampton Complex paving and landscaping
One of our past paving consultation projects was the Calvin L. Rampton Complex, the home of the Utah Department of Transportation and Utah Highway Patrol. The facility was already 25 years old when our team completed this assessment. The original asphalt was still in use (though badly in need of repair), and several asphalt additions had been made over the years. As part of our consulting process, we worked with the local facility manager to determine the best method for moving forward with their available budget. As we undertook the project, our team recommended that the project be split into three phases due to the scope of the work.
The team started with an initial LiDAR scan of the site so we could recommend the best drainage design and improvements. We then moved to design the scope of the work, which included replacing portions of the existing parking lot, including the main drive in the front of the building. As we proceeded with the project, the facility manager also asked us to update their main entrance landscaping and rear patio. It turned into a large-scale project, but we were pleased with our work and happy to create a better parking lot and entrance space for the facility.
Making parking lot maintenance a priority
Parking lots may not be the most exciting place, but they are crucial for a building or business’s accessibility. As a landscape architecture firm, we have worked on many paving projects over the years, and each time, we’ve learned and grown from the process. Our team’s role is to help our clients maintain these spaces economically and safely so they can last for years. If it’s time to upgrade your building or business’s parking lot surface, contact our paving consultation team to begin the process.
