GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Grand Rapids is working to address parking challenges as new event venues prepare to open downtown.
“The streets are obviously way more packed on the weekends, with parking being free, but I don't really try weekdays or weekends to park on the street,” Kirstee Murakami said.
Murakami lives in the downtown area and knows parking can be a problem.
“I would park in the garage on the weekdays, just because I feel like a lot of people get parking tickets,” Urakami added.
The city is looking into the potential parking needs over the next several months.
"A lot of the traffic in downtown areas, not just downtown Grand Rapids, but across a lot of North America, is people looking for parking," Mobile GR senior Mobility Planning Analyst Max Dillivan said.
Dillivan explained that much of downtown congestion comes from drivers circling blocks looking for spaces.
"These are trips of people circling the block, trying to wait for an on-street space to open up or a ramp that might be full," Dillivan said.
The city's parking concerns are growing with the upcoming addition of the Acrisure Amphitheater and Amway Soccer Stadium to downtown Grand Rapids.
"That is one of the impetuses for starting this project," Dillivan said.
According to city data, downtown Grand Rapids currently has 49,000 parking spots managed by 200 different agencies. Corewell Health has the most potential openings with almost 9,000 spaces, while the city controls around 4,800. Data shows that typically, the most available spaces are within a half-mile walk of any major event venue.
"So our parking investment strategy is designed to help us respond to some of the changes that are occurring in our downtown," Dillivan said.
The city is already exploring solutions, including expanding the free DASH shuttle system.
"It will be important to market those services as well as market the available capacity that we have in our system as well," Dillivan said.
Technology is another key component of the city's strategy, with plans to implement digital tools showing real-time parking availability.
"There is one particular technology vendor, Modii, that we're looking at that will allow an app that shows how much capacity is available in every single ramp, so you can tell, oh, there's 200 spaces available," Dillivan said.
The city plans to collect parking data through the end of the year and hopes to have a report ready with recommendations for handling future parking needs by spring or summer.
This story was initially reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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