Van Accessible Parking

Funding and Grants Wanted

We need funding for two important research projects.

1. Study Van Accessible Parking spot location (scoping) and its limitation to the parking availability to Van drivers.

We want to survey 1000 disabled van users on their experience on the availability or parking spots. We also want to survey 100 facilities with more than 2 disabled parking spots for the location and availability of the Van Parking spots. The results will be tabulated and conclusions stated. Some suggested changes in scoping and specify van accessible parking will be made. A student project will be supported at a local college to conduct and analyze the date. Colleges available to draw upon are Washington State University Vancouver, Clark College, Portland State University, Oregon Health and Science University, University of Portland, Oregon State University, or University of Oregon.

2. Develop engineering design specifications for diagonal van accessible parking stalls.

There is no engineering design available for diagonal van accessible parking, it has been assumed that the same 8 ft. access aisle is sufficient for diagonal van accessible parking. There are several reasons this assumption is faulty. The plan profile of a side lift van must be considered as the angle of the stall is reduced from 90 degrees. At sharper angles the curb will interfere with the 8ft. clear space required for a wheel chair to move off the platform and turn. With very sharp angles and a curb-less design the 8ft. access aisle is not required and may waste valuable parking space since there is no overlap of vehicle profiles in adjacent parking spots. We plan to use upper class engineering students in this project. See the possible colleges listed for project 1. See more details on diagonal van accessible parking stalls.

Please contact us with funding possibilities at info@vanaccessibleparking.org or call 971-404-2982.