As parking demand returned to downtown Portland, the City needed a sharper understanding of how its system was performing block by block. Brian led a robust parking study of downtown Portland covering 293 block faces across nine districts, pairing a full inventory with hourly occupancy and turnover observations from morning through late evening. The result was one of the most detailed parking datasets the City had ever worked with.
A major advancement from this project was the introduction of GIS-based occupancy mapping. Previous studies relied on hand-drawn AutoCAD figures, which made it difficult to see patterns clearly. By linking observed data to a geographic layer, the team produced the City’s first true parking heat maps, revealing where demand consistently exceeded 85 percent and where capacity was hiding in plain sight.
These insights helped Portland simplify time limits, clarify loading and special-use rules, and build a stronger foundation for ongoing right-pricing efforts. The study also set a new technical benchmark; GIS mapping is now routine in parking studies, but this project was one of the earliest to use it in a comprehensive, citywide analysis.
Brian led this work in a previous position. Read the Downtown Portland Parking Study final report here [pdf].
