Park and Ride Car park schemes are designed to manage and reduce the peak flow volumes of vehicular traffic entering congested city and town car parks. However, increasingly strict Planning Regulations and Environment Agency controls require these large out-of-town parking sites to provide innovative, engineered reinforced surface solutions which are also SuDS compliant and environmentally sympathetic.
Conventional hard-paved park and ride car parks in sensitive edge of town and rural locations are becoming less desirable or acceptable. Contemporary car parks need to combine safety, sustainability and practicality with stable, durable, engineered and aesthetically acceptable surfaces. Sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) which attenuate surface water run-off must be considered alongside options such as reinforced gravel and grass surfaces to further limit visual and environmental impact.
A robust cellular permeable paving system is often specified for car park access roads, parking bays and service bus turning areas. Interlocking porous plastic pavers provide a surface stabilisation solution that is free-draining and can be designed in conjunction with a SuDS system to manage rainwater run-off. Cellular plastic pavers can be filled with selected porous gravel that is retained within the grid cells or can be grassed to blend in with the natural environment to accommodate the increased desire for green surfacing wherever practical.
