SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The City of Springfield was recently presented with the results of a study about downtown parking. The study showed while there are many parking options downtown, there is a lack of education about those options. 

“Those who live and work downtown on a regular basis know where the spaces are,” said Rusty Worley with the Downtown Springfield Association. But those who aren’t as familiar, but between the one-way streets and private, lots of public lots, they don’t always know. Should I park here? Can I park here? What are the rules?” 

Many people visiting downtown said open parking spots are often difficult to find. 

“We struggle with parking downtown primarily when we come up to see our son. It’s on a busy game day Saturday,” said Kent Hudson who was visiting Downtown Springfield. “A lot of football stuff going on and yeah, it’s very difficult to find parking downtown.” 

For people visiting from out of town, or those who are not familiar with the area, the available spots are even more difficult to find. 

 “It just looks like to me it’s very limited down here because it looks like it’s mostly street parking,” said Hudson. “I don’t see parking garages. I don’t see parking lot. So it’s a little different than it is downtown Tulsa.” 

“We have two city-owned structures. We have several surface lots,” Worley said. “We have 800 on-street parking options, plus all the private lots and garages that are downtown. So there is a good inventory.” 

The study suggested a couple of ways to help utilize the existing parking. 

“The study called for better signage, better promotions through the city’s website. And we want to partner with that with the it’s all downtown website,” Worley said. “We want to make sure that our public spaces, particularly in the car parks, are well lit, that they’re inviting, they’re well-maintained.” 

These changes will not happen overnight, but Worley said he does look forward to seeing the updates.