The cost of creating parking spaces and their impact on construction costs and design

The cost of creating a parking space and providing parking on the street, but especially in private parking lots, directly affects overall construction costs and the form of construction. The price of parking, even when presented as a free service for the person parking their vehicle, is implicitly included in the price of other products, meaning that even when we don’t pay for parking at the moment of use, we are indirectly paying for it. However, not only car owners pay for the right to park, but also pedestrians, cyclists, and public transport users.

The cost of constructing parking spaces ranges from about 80,000 to 180,000 NIS for an underground parking space and about 20,000 to 45,000 NIS for an above-ground parking space. As a result, the parking standard becomes a factor that directly affects housing prices and the feasibility of projects such as Tama 38 (seismic retrofitting), urban renewal, affordable housing, commercial and leisure centers, and more. There are projects whose economic viability is entirely dependent on the number of parking spaces their developers must provide, while other projects do not go forward due to the inability to provide the required parking spaces according to the standard. Additionally, in some projects, the size and number of housing units are determined according to the parking standard. Thus, in practice the parking standard has become one of the leading and most influential criteria impacting urban planning in Israel.