"Smart" Parking Coming to Penn Quarter

Even if you have an assigned parking spot in a garage in your condo or office, it should come as no surprise that parking comes at a premium in our neighborhood - and a new system is set to be put in place to better capture that premium.

The map above shows the proposed area in which 1,000 sensors will be installed, each able to monitor whether a parking space is occupied.  The city (backed by a million dollar grant from the Federal Highway Administration) will be able to adjust the price of each spot as supply and demand waxes and wanes - and the stated goal is to have at least one spot open per block.  Doing so may require a hefty price tag, but we can't imagine it would be much worse than garage costs in our neighborhood.

Washington, DC is the number one most congested area in the United States, and DDOT cites 1/4 of downtown traffic as caused by those circling looking for parking.  

Commercial parkers will get access to real-time parking availability before the general public, but a small graphic from the DDOT proposal reveals an app will be released showing parking congestion on a space by space basis. 

The plan may go into effect as early as the end of this year.