Parking Available in Downtown Plainfield If You Don't Mind Walking: Study

PLAINFIELD, IL — A parking study recently conducted in Plainfield was discussed during a Village Committee of the Whole meeting Oct. 24.

Plainfield Public Works Director Allen Persons said the study was conducted not only to do an inventory of how many public spaces were available at different times, but also as a look forward at possible downtown improvements.

“It’s interesting to see the patterns of where people prefer to park during the week and on the weekends,” Parsons said.

Lou Haussmann of Baxter and Woodman gave a presentation to the committee over the findings.

There are a total 1,009 parking spots in the downtown area, Haussmann said, which includes private lots meant only for business patrons.

Between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. on the weekdays, parking was available, although there was more congestion on Lockport Street and some of the cross streets. There were still “significant areas” that were less than 50 percent utilized, Haussmann said.

“What we found is overall the parking utilization rates in the downtown never exceeded 40 percent overall, as a total, however, obviously, there’s some very concentrated areas of parking utilization near Lockport and Des Plaines, but overall the Village downtown had parking at all times,” Haussmann said. “There was available parking within a couple blocks.”

Friday saw a similar pattern until 8 p.m.

“You see almost all of Lockport Street is completely filled up, Des Plaines, Illinois, Chicago,” Haussmann said, adding that there was still parking available, but was a two or three block walk for people who want to dine at Des Plaines and Lockport.

Saturday maintained a similar rate as Friday, but seemed to have a few more spots in the evening hours.

Trustee Brian Wojowski questioned including private business spots in the 1,009 available if people were unable to use them except to go to that particular business. He suggested possibly taking those off the map.

"The general public is not necessarily going to park in those lots, especially when there are signs posted," Wojowski said.

A study of Plainfield’s Cruise Nights showed that 73 percent of all parking was occupied.

“151 of those 733 parking spaces occupied were show vehicles and 582 were regular vehicles,” Haussmann said. “During the Cruise Night event, the downtown gets as close to being full as possible.”

Overall, the study found that parking on Lockport and Des Plaines streets was highly desired, but parking was always available to those willing to do a bit of walking.

photo via Shutterstock