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Performance Parking Pilot

Project Updates

Project Update Video Now Available

Get the latest update on the Performance Parking Pilot in our project update video for Fall 2023. It includes an installation update for our sensor network, the results of our public engagement and business outreach, and an update on the next steps for the project.

Watch the Video

Share your Feedback

Use the form linked below to share your input about the Pilot project at any point during the process.

Share Your Input

Learn more about this meeting and other public engagement elements in the Public Process section below

About This Pilot Project

Arlington's Performance Parking Pilot Project seeks to improve the user experience by:

making metered parking spaces more available, more often
sharing useful information about parking options in real time
reducing the negative impacts associated with the search for metered parking (cruising, double parking, going somewhere else to do business, etc.).

The County is piloting a system that combines occupancy technology and pricing tools to provide better information on parking availability and influence demand for metered curb space.

Pilot Map - Project Corridors

The pilot project includes about 4,500 metered parking spaces. The spaces are in two County Planning corridors: Rosslyn-Ballston and Richmond Highway. Most of the spaces included in the pilot will be on-street parking.

System design, installation, testing, and initial data collection will occur in the first year of the pilot project, while the second and third years are dedicated to data collection and pricing calibration. Community outreach and engagement occur throughout all three years of the pilot project.

The pilot will use in-ground sensors to provide real-time occupancy information for each of the parking spaces included in the project area. The sensors can detect the presence or absence of a vehicle, and duration-of-stay can be calculated. No camera technology is being used, and no personally-identifying information can be collected by the system. Once initial occupancy data has been gathered, the project team anticipates applying the pricing tools to the pilot project corridors on a quarterly basis, changing prices up or down across the 4,500 parking spaces included in the pilot to meet the goals of the pilot project.

The Performance Parking Pilot map linked below is for users to explore its layout and functionality. More segments of Performance Parking spaces will be shown on the map as sensors come online.

Pilot Map - Courthouse Plaza Parking Lot

Project Basis

The County’s Master Transportation Plan (MTP) Parking and Curbside Element, Policy 5 states that Transportation Staff should “Utilize parking meter pricing strategies that vary by hour and location to better match parking availability and demand.”

In order to meet this Board-adopted transportation policy, the Parking team, part of the Transportation Engineering & Operations Bureau, applied for and received a $5.4 million grant from the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Innovation and Technology Transportation Fund to install and test technology that would allow staff to make changes to the price of parking across the metered parking network to encourage more efficient use of the system. This pilot project will allow the Parking team to test the efficacy of this technology and determine if it is the right way to achieve the MTP’s stated goals.

The goals of the pilot project, as stated in the grant application submitted to VDOT for funding, are as follows:

On-street parking is easier to find on block faces with high parking demand than it is today.
More people choose to park on block faces where demand is low today.
Fewer instances of double parking occur, freeing up travel lanes and reducing conflicts
Drivers spend less time looking for on-street parking.
Drivers perceive that they spend less time looking for on-street parking.
Members of the public perceive that they have better on-street parking information.
Vehicle miles travelled resulting from on-street parking search or “cruising” are reduced in the areas with the system.
Mobile emissions from vehicles are reduced in the areas with the system as a result of reduced vehicle miles travelled.
Ensuring throughout this process, that community engagement is equitable and inclusive.

Note: these goals are not listed in order of priority, and the first opportunity for public engagement will center on identifying community preferences for prioritizing these goals.

The project does not:

Seek to increase overall parking revenue.
Increase all metered parking rates across the board.
Decrease the number of reserved ADA-accessible parking spaces.
Create dynamically or fast-changing metered pricing (i.e., it is not like the HOT lanes).

Public Process

The 3-year pilot project aims to improve the user experience for metered parking spaces in two key commercial-residential corridors in Arlington. A recording of the February 2023 public kick-off meeting and an online feedback form are available for exploring this unique project further.