Parking & business

Parking matters. NYSDOT planned for it.

Shops, restaurants and neighbors along Boston Post Road depend on curb parking. NYSDOT studied how it's used and kept most of it, and where spaces go, it's usually for safety.

Parking

Curb parking keeps businesses open and gives neighbors somewhere to put their cars, and NYSDOT treated it that way. It studied how parking along the corridor is actually used before drawing the plan, and kept it where it's needed. Its April 2026 plans keep most of it, several blocks gain spaces, and many of the spaces that go are rarely used.

The plan also adds spaces, and makes spaces people already use legal:

13 new spaces across from the residential building by Alden Road.
6 new spaces between Beach Avenue and Manor.
34 spaces by Mamaroneck High School that drivers park in today become marked, legal spaces.

Where spaces are removed or moved, it's usually for safety:

Longer bus stops. Modern stops run about 100 feet instead of 30, so a bus can pull fully to the curb instead of stopping in a travel lane. Several stops also move across an intersection.
Clear sight lines at intersections, so drivers pulling out of side streets can see people crossing and cars coming.
Curb extensions, which shorten the distance people have to walk across the road.

Detail of NYSDOT's plan at Boston Post Road and Larchmont Avenue: a bus stop on each side of the street next to the intersection, yellow labels with each block's existing and proposed parking spaces, and red decorative buffers along the curb. — At Larchmont Avenue, a bus stop sits on each side of the street next to the intersection. Modern stops need a longer stretch of curb, which is part of why the blocks beside them lose a few spaces. The yellow labels give each block's existing and proposed spaces; the red marks are decorative buffers, where we think some spaces could be won back. From NYSDOT's April 2026 roll plots.

NYSDOT was thoughtful about where to keep and add parking

Where the street is too narrow to keep both sides, NYSDOT kept the side that needs it: the homes and businesses with no off-street parking of their own. Where that need changes sides, so does the parking.

NYSDOT plan at Lorenzen Street: west of the street the south side keeps 14 of 19 spaces and the north side goes to zero; east of it the north side keeps 14 and the south side goes to zero. — At Lorenzen Street the kept parking crosses the road. West of it, the south side keeps 14 of its 19 spaces while the north side loses its 8. East of it, the north side keeps 14 and the south side's 6 go.

NYSDOT plan between Dubois Avenue and Beach Avenue: the north side keeps 14 spaces on one stretch, and further east the south side keeps 14. — The same switch between Dubois Avenue and Beach Avenue: the north side keeps 14 of 29 spaces along one stretch, and closer to Beach Avenue the south side keeps 14 of its 42.

Where we think the plan can do better

Safe Routes to School volunteers went through NYSDOT's plans block by block. We think NYSDOT did a good job balancing parking, safety and traffic flow, and we found places where it could do better. We've passed these to the villages and town, since several are best solved locally:

Downtown Larchmont. Some spaces are lost to decorative buffers and generous clearance around rarely used driveways. Working with NYSDOT, the village could win back some or most of them.
Orienta to Mamaroneck Avenue. Fitting a bike lane on the street takes out a lane of parking used by Harbor Island and the businesses across from the water treatment plant. Moving the bike path into the park would be nicer, safer, and keep that parking.

Our suggestion, drawn by Safe Routes to School on NYSDOT's plan: a bike path through Harbor Island Park (red) instead of the on-street bike lane (green) along this stretch.
Delancey and Orienta. Changing access at Delancey, perhaps with no left turns, could make the proposed roundabout unnecessary, saving money and Harbor Island Park land.

Some spaces can't come back under any design: a bus stop built to today's standards is simply longer than the one it replaces.

NYSDOT is still refining the parking layout. The latest version is in the project documents.

Studies show positive or no economic impact from bike and pedestrian improvements

Business owners ask whether fewer lanes mean fewer customers. It's a fair question, and it has been studied more than most people realize.

The big picture · Volker & Handy, UC Davis, 2021

23 studies, 45 streets, 16 cities

Researchers at UC Davis gathered every original US and Canadian study from 2000 to 2020 that measured what happened to nearby businesses after a street was changed for walking or biking, or compared what shoppers spend by how they arrive.

The 18 bike facilities checked with statistical tests

11 better 7 no significant change

None worse. In the authors' words, “none of the studies shows a negative correlation.” Hover over or tap a bar to see the streets.

The 6 pedestrian improvements

6 better

Plazas, seating, trees, lighting and medians; 5 of the 6 took away a travel lane or parking. The two tested statistically, Polk and Lyndale, were both positive.

The 4 projects combining bike and pedestrian improvements

3 better 1 unclear

of the 20 streets that did better, across all the studies, had lost travel lanes or parking to make room.

streets had reported declines, all in studies without statistical tests: business and resident surveys in Vancouver and Chicago, and Calgary counts with no comparison street.

2 road diets

in the review, Vanderbilt Avenue in Brooklyn and Lyndale Avenue in Minneapolis, each dropped a travel lane in each direction. Both did better.

6 of 8

spending studies found people who walk or bike spend more per month than drivers, because they come more often. Two confirmed it statistically.

The caution: three studies found that businesses built around the car, such as auto parts and repair shops, gas stations and large home-goods stores, might see flat or falling sales.

The authors' conclusion: the weight of the evidence points to a positive, or at least non-negative, effect on shops and restaurants, even where travel lanes or parking are removed.

The studies closest to Boston Post Road are below.

Four-lane roads that became three

The same Ingersoll Avenue corner before and after the road diet: above, cracked four-lane pavement; below, one lane each way with a bike lane, a center turn lane, planters and benches. — Ingersoll Avenue before (top) and after. Image: Project for Public Spaces, from Google Street View.

Ingersoll Avenue, Des Moines · 2010

Traffic held, crashes fell by half, most businesses saw no change

A two-mile road diet on a street of small, locally owned shops and restaurants carrying 11,000 to 17,000 vehicles a day, similar to Boston Post Road. Traffic volumes did not drop. Most business owners saw no effect, 23% reported more shopping, and a majority favored keeping it.

Same street, same years: the road-diet half (left) and the half that kept four lanes (right). Drag either view to look around.

York Boulevard, Los Angeles · 2006

No difference from the half of the street that kept four lanes

Half of the corridor got a road diet; the other half didn't. Property values, new business openings and business closures showed no significant difference between the halves. Parking was not removed.

Actual sales, compared with similar streets

Seattle, 7 safety projects · 2024

Sales grew the same as at 18 comparison sites

Taxable sales near the projects rose $1.20 million a year, against $1.14 million at matched sites with no changes. The difference is not statistically significant. The authors conclude these projects are not linked to harm for nearby businesses.

14 streets in 6 cities · 2020

Retail did better on 9 of 14 improved streets

Portland State compared improved streets with similar ones that weren't changed. Retail was better on 9, unchanged on 2 and mixed on 3. A 2008 road diet on Lyndale Avenue in Minneapolis saw retail sales rise.

A cyclist in the protected bike lane on 9th Avenue in Manhattan, with a row of parked cars and traffic beside it. — 9th Avenue at 30th Street. Photo: Jim Henderson (CC0).

9th Avenue, Manhattan · 2013

Local retail sales up 49% in three years

One of four travel lanes became a protected bike lane and turn lanes, and the parking stayed. Sales at local ground-floor shops rose 49%, against 3% across Manhattan.

The Bloor Street bike lane in Toronto, separated from traffic by a curb and white posts. — Bloor Street. Photo: Dillan Payne, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped.

Bloor Street, Toronto · 2017

Merchants overestimated how many customers drive

Measured before and after a bike lane, against a similar street without one: visitors came more often and vacancies held steady. Most merchants believed at least a quarter of their customers drove; fewer than one in ten did.

What it means here

The review's caution about car-oriented businesses matters here: Boston Post Road has gas stations and repair shops, and their concerns about driveway access deserve direct answers from NYSDOT.

The practical lessons: keep parking and loading where businesses need it, which is the aim of the improvements we've passed along, and measure sales and parking before construction so the result can be checked afterward.

Sources

NYSDOT, Westchester County US Route 1 Complete Streets
Project documents, boards and status.
projectdocs.dot.ny.gov
NYSDOT, US Route 1 Complete Streets roll plots, April 2026 open house
Four roll plots showing the proposed design, with existing and proposed parking spaces labeled block by block.
NYSDOT project documents
Mamaroneck and Rye Neck Safe Routes to School, review of NYSDOT's proposal, June 2026
Presented at the spring SRTS meeting and shared with the Village of Larchmont, Village of Mamaroneck and Town of Mamaroneck.
Volker & Handy, “Economic impacts on local businesses of investments in bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure: a review of the evidence,” Transport Reviews, 2021
23 studies, 2000–2020: 8 on spending by travel mode, 15 on 45 specific facilities in 16 US and Canadian cities. Transport Reviews 41(4), 401–431. Open access.
Full article
FHWA, Road Diet Case Studies: Ingersoll Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa (2015); Project for Public Spaces, “Road Diet Case Study: Invigorating Ingersoll”
Two-mile four-to-three conversion carrying 11,000–17,000 vehicles per day; six-month trial, then kept. Business survey results from PPS.
FHWA case studies · PPS
McCormick, “York Boulevard: The Economics of a Road Diet,” UCLA, 2012
Road diet (2006) and bike lanes (2010) on one half of the corridor, the other half unchanged; property sales, business openings and closures, sales tax and surveys.
Report
Osterhage, Acolin, Fishman & Dannenberg, “Economic impact on local businesses of road safety improvements in Seattle,” Injury Prevention, 2024
Taxable sales for 7 projects begun 2006–2014 against 18 matched comparison sites, up to three years after.
PubMed
Liu & Shi, “Understanding Economic and Business Impacts of Street Improvements for Bicycle and Pedestrian Mobility,” Portland State University / NITC, 2020
14 improved corridors in 6 cities, each with a control corridor; employment and sales-tax data.
Summary report · Minneapolis report
NYC DOT, “The Economic Benefits of Sustainable Streets,” 2013
Sales-tax filings of locally based ground-floor businesses, three years before and after, against borough and comparison streets.
Report (archived)
Toronto Centre for Active Transportation, “Economic Impact Study of Bike Lanes in Toronto's Bloor Annex and Korea Town,” 2017
3,005 visitor and 525 merchant surveys, before and after, with Danforth Avenue as the control. Peer-reviewed as Arancibia et al., Journal of the American Planning Association, 2019.
Report