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[[underlined]] Mall Parking Facilities [[/underlined]]

The shortage of convenient parking spaces is a serious restriction on visitor access to our buildings. A recent study conducted in August-September 1976 shows

--The majority of visitors come by car (57%).

--One-third of the visitors felt that the elimination of parking on the Mall was a definite inconvenience to them personally.

--About half of the suburbanites (52%) and 30% of the out-of-town visitors worried about coming to the city because they had heard that parking near the Mall was impossible to find.

--About a third of the visitors had to park more than six blocks away from the museum they wanted to visit.

While this study gives some insight into visitor concern for parking, it could not include those potential visitors who simply stayed away rather than try to cope with the parking problem.

Visitor attendance continues to climb while at the same time a number of reductions in available parking spaces have occurred. The planned parking (900 spaces) at the National Visitor Center (Union Station) has been deferred, parking has been eliminated on Adams and Washington Drives (a reduction of 700 spaces) and parking was banned on Independence and Constitution Avenues during the 1976 peak season for a further loss of 350 spaces.

A fringe parking lot shuttle bus system operating from RFK Stadium and the Pentagon North Lot was intended to serve the Bicentennial crowds. This system, costing some $7-1/2 million in Federal funds, failed to live up to the expectations of the planners