Siegman & Associates founder Patrick Siegman spoke with the Washington Post about systemic problems with American parking and traffic studies. Those defects help explain why the District of Columbia is now saddled with a 1000 space, $40 million, taxpayer-funded garage, which remains so empty "that the operator typically blocks off one of its two sprawling levels".
"Parking garages proliferated across the country in the 1950s when planners began requiring them in new development to siphon off traffic. Yet the added parking only encouraged more driving and traffic and drove up construction costs on all types of development, said Patrick Siegman…. A single underground parking space can cost as much as $50,000, which gets passed along to buyers and lease-holders."