SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Nearly one-third of downtown Salt Lake City is dedicated solely to car parking, according to new data released on Monday.

The data comes from the Parking Reform Network, an organization dedicated to educating the public on the impact of parking on climate change, housing, traffic and more. Salt Lake City was recently added to the network’s map of 85 cities across the United States, highlighting dedicated parking lots.

A map highlights designated parking spaces in downtown Salt Lake City (Courtesy Parking Reform Network)

The Salt Lake City map researched the area between North Temple and 900 South and 200 East to about 400 West. About 29% of downtown was highlighted red, which represented an area that was a designated parking lot. The parking lots include parking for residential, commercial, industrial and more.

Salt Lake City has a few parking structures that span entire blocks. Notably, the parking lot kitty corner to the Delta Center and the other one across the street from the U.S. District Courthouse take up an entire block worth of development.

Parking Reform noted that parking minimums – or the minimum number of off-street parking spaces required – in Salt Lake City had been reduced in 2021. Other reforms include parking space maximums and in some areas, eliminating parking minimums altogether.

The city has made a notable effort toward being more “green.” The city has a plan to create a linear park network called the Green Loop, which would include a shared-use path for walking, biking, scootering and skateboarding. There is also a plan in motion to permanently remove traffic from Main Street downtown to create a pedestrian-only mall.

Overall, the network gave Salt Lake City a parking score of 61. A lower score means the city devotes less land to parking while a higher score means more land is dedicated to parking.

New York City (1%), Washington DC (3%), Chicago (4%), San Francisco (4%) and Boston (7%) were found to be the top five city centers with the least amount of dedicated parking spaces. Meanwhile, San Bernardino (49%), Arlington (42%), Lexington (38%), Wichita (35%) and Virginia Beach (35%) have the most parking.