Whether the people using your parking lot are your employees, tenants, customers, or vendors, they all expect you to provide them with a safe environment. They assume that their vehicles will not be damaged while driving through your lot. They hope that they will not be injured while walking between their vehicles and your building. They expect that their parked vehicles will not receive dents or scratches from neighboring cars. They expect that the asphalt company you hired to build your parking lot knew to ensure proper drainage, design an orderly traffic flow pattern, and incorporate elements to protect pedestrians as well as drivers. If you are suspicious that your parking lot is not as safe as it should be, the following tips can help you remedy any issues you identify.
How to Make Your Asphalt Parking Lot Safe
What Are the Essential Elements of a Safe Parking Lot?
You can mitigate or eliminate many safety issues by being proactive about your asphalt paving maintenance and repairs. However, there are also enhancements you can make that will contribute to parking lot safety.
Crack Repair
Cracks can cause pedestrians to trip and fall, potentially resulting in an injury. However, open cracks allow water to infiltrate the pavement’s base layers and erode them. Sinkholes develop over areas of base erosion. Water collects in these sinkholes, increasing the risk that vehicles could skid or hydroplane. Furthermore, the sinkholes can quickly turn into potholes that can damage vehicles and injure pedestrians.
Sealcoating
Sealcoating Austin TX parking lots is an essential part of asphalt maintenance. It protects the pavement from premature deterioration by blocking UV rays and slowing down the damage caused by automotive fluids. Parking lot sealcoat will also enhance traction for both pedestrians and vehicles.
Striping and Marking
Well-defined parking stalls and carefully planned pavement markings cannot guarantee that every driver will park properly or that no one will ever drive the wrong way down a traffic aisle. However, if you do not have visible, neat markings and stripes, you cannot expect drivers to accurately determine how they are to navigate your lot or what constitutes a parking space.
Eliminate Blind Spots
When approaching the end of a traffic aisle, drivers and pedestrians need an unobstructed view of the cross traffic. Make sure that hedges, temporary signs, improperly parked vehicles, trash receptacles, and other items do not create blind spots.
Miscellaneous Repairs
When it comes to asphalt repair, Austin property owners often need a variety of procedures. Potholes may require patching, and drainage issues may require asphalt milling or the installation of additional catch basins, or areas of alligatored asphalt may require removal and replacement.
Other Enhancements
Carefully chosen and adequately installed parking lot signs can improve safety, but you should have your contractor maintain them to ensure that they are secure and visible at all times. Parking lot lighting can help protect pedestrians from falls resulting from tripping over an unseen obstacle. Still, proper lighting also helps reduce potential criminal activities, including the theft of vehicles or items within them. Video surveillance can deter criminal activity, but it can also serve as evidence when determining the issue of fault if an accident occurs, which could help protect you as well as the innocent party.
Certified Asphalt Parking Lot Builders in Texas
If you would like to make your parking lot safer, contact Alpha Paving. We are a full-service Austin paving contractor serving Austin and most towns in Central Texas. Our services include asphalt paving, parking lot maintenance and striping, asphalt pavement, and concrete installations, thermoplastic and traditional pavement markings, asphalt milling and overlays, asphalt and concrete repairs, speed bump and car stop installations, road construction, parking lot signage, street maintenance, and asphalt sealcoating.
Our clients include commercial property management firms, municipalities and counties, shopping centers, hotels and motels, religious institutions, restaurants, industrial facilities, subdivisions, health care facilities, HOAs and POAs, office parks, apartment complexes, and airports. Our team members have earned an exemplary reputation by providing exceptional work and attentive customer service. Contact us for a free quote by calling our office at 512-677-9001, sending an email to [email protected], or submitting the online request form.
