Data From HP Village Parking Model Study is Here

Nelson\Nygaard’s findings on its study on the Highland Park Village parking model included the following:

• It took visitors an average of six minutes to find parking. However, on Saturday afternoons, the average was 11 minutes and 20 seconds.
• On weekdays, 68% of visitors parked once and visited more than one location, but 36% of weekend visitors parked once and visited more than one location.

Jackson Archer of Nelson\Nygaard presented this data to the Highland Park town council during the March 21 study session. The consulting company interviewed more than 250 people across several peak hours.

Nelson\Nygaard used public outreach to inform their data collection methodology. Residents identified specific streets and times of the week to observe impacts of Highland Park Village and influenced the questions asked to visitors and employees to form an understanding of trip patterns and demand ratios.

During the outreach, Archer said staff and council members heard from residents about the issues they see in the area, including cars driving at high speeds, lack of parking enforcement in neighborhoods, traffic spillover from lack of parking and poor circulation in Highland Park Village, and lack of clear and consistent signage for street parking limits.

Mayor Will C. Beecherl asked Archer during the meeting how their model accounts for varying visit durations that can often be upward of a few hours.

“That’s something we ask people when we talk to them at Highland Park Village, either how long they anticipate they’ll be there or or how long have they been there already,” Archer said. “[It] is something we factor into our model, and it informs some of the inputs we’re using.”

The consulting firm conducted the study over various days and times of the week but not the holiday season: “Yes, that’s when Highland Park Village traffic … is at its worst, but it’s not typical for the yearlong process. If we were to account for that as typical conditions, then there would be way, way higher demand than there actually is,” Archer said.

The data collected will inform internal capture, demand curve, parking ratios by land use types, and employee versus visitor tendencies.

Nelson\Nygaard will incorporate the data to finalize a model and test it. The team will then draft a memorandum on data collection and model integration, present it to the town council and residents, refine it based on feedback, and then publish the final model.

“We are continuing to work closely with the Town of Highland Park to update their Nelson\Nygaard shared-use parking model,” Highland Park Village chief marketing officer Victoria Snee told People Newspapers.

View the full presentation from Nelson\Nygaard below.

In other news, during its March 21 meeting and study session, the town council:

• Approved an interlocal agreement with Dallas Area Rapid Transit.
• Reviewed, discussed, and approved the purchase of water meters as part of the fiscal year 2023 Annual Water Meter Replacement Program.
• Reviewed, discussed, and approved a contract for the purchase and installation of traffic signal equipment upgrades at the intersections at Mockingbird Lane and Armstrong Parkway and Mockingbird Lane and Abbott Avenue.
• Reviewed and discussed the monthly financial and investment report for the period ending Jan. 31, 2023.