This project involves a Traveler Information System (TIS) and parking management study for the Sandy Hook unit of the Gateway National Recreation Area, which experiences severe roadway and parking lot congestion during the summer season. The TIS will include parking lot monitoring capability, highway advisory radio (HAR), and changeable message signs. The parking management study identifies opportunities for improving the park's 4,100 existing parking spaces, and their role in the broader transportation issues being addressed. Recommendations to improve the parking management systems include installation of automated vehicle counting technologies, such as pneumatic tubes, loop counters, CCTV cameras, and acoustic devices. Among these, Volpe identifies pneumatic tubes and loop detectors as the most feasible technologies. Subsequent cost comparison reveals pneumatic tubes to be more than $20,000 cheaper in the first year of installation than loop detectors. Further, pneumatic tube technology would allow for more seamless integration with the park's TIS subsystems.

Final Report, December 2003
Gateway National Recreation Area - Sandy Hook Unit: Parking Management (PDF, 696KB)