Parking Mandate Reform Brings a Little Bit of Good for Everyone

The day after a city repeals its mandatory parking minimums, it’s still the exact same city. Not a single parking space need be added or removed as a direct consequence of that simple policy change. For that reason, it’s vitally important for parking reformers to go back and actually document what happens in the months and years after mandates are removed. To observe what possibilities have been opened up that weren’t there before. Advocates in Anchorage, Alaska, are doing just that.

Anchorage ended its parking mandates citywide in November 2022, one of at least 79 American cities to have done so, at current count. (“City” is a stretch of a term here, since Anchorage has the largest municipal boundaries in the U.S. The nominal “city” of Anchorage includes vast wilderness areas and is home to 287,000 people — over 40% of Alaska’s population.)

Daniel Herriges