How Wide Is A Parking Space In Different Countries?
A parking space is a designated area for parking that can be in a garage, lot, or on a street. Either paved or unpaved, there are specific rules and regulations that a parking place needs to maintain. How wide is a parking space? There are no specific dimensions because the measurements depend on various factors.
The Factors That Determine Parking Space Dimensions
There are some elements that play a part in regulating parking space length and width. Cars used to be much bigger than the models that are manufactured these days. So, the parking lots are comparatively smaller these days. Also, American parking space is slightly bigger because the vehicles there are bigger than the vehicles in Asian countries.
The parking lots are compact and narrow in bigger cities where lands are pricey. Many garages in these cities, like New York and Bangalore, are only for compact cars. They accommodate more vehicles by being narrower than traditional parking spaces.
In other words, a parking spot has to be large enough for vehicles to fit either by parallel parking, angled parking, or perpendicular parking.
How Wide Is A Parking Space?
The dimensions of parking space could vary from country to country. Here are the measurements of these areas in some countries:
1. North America
The average width of a parking space in North American countries ranges from seven to nine feet. Perpendicular and angled parking lots should have that much width because the car doors need space to open. However, six feet width is possibly enough for a parallel parking lot, especially if it is located on a low-traffic neighborhood.
How long are parking spaces in North American countries? The length is often difficult to regulate because there is no specific rule about the boundary between parking space and driving area. However, the length could be between 10 and 18 feet in case of perpendicular and angled parking lots. Most parking spaces in America are between 16 and 20 feet deep because the vehicles there are bigger than in other countries. When it is a parallel parking lot, the length increases from 20 to 24 feet.
2. The United Kingdom
How wide is a parking space in the UK? Is it similar to North American countries? Not really.
In this country, parking lots have to be at least 16 feet wide and 7.9 feet long.
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3. Other Countries
France follows the Norme NF P 91-100 standard for deciding the measurements of a parking lot. It has to be at least 7.2–7.5 feet wide. Parking garages in Australia are built by following the standards in the AS2890. These places have to be at least 7.9 feet wide and 17.7 feet long.
However, narrow parking spaces are losing favors in various countries because they cannot accommodate larger vehicles. For example, a Swiss Association that is on the charge of monitoring parking spaces in Switzerland drew attention to this issue in 2016.
