Gateshead Council's Parking Plan places a great emphasis on making the most efficient use of existing/planned parking resources in the Town Centre and Gateshead Quays, and integrating these two areas to effectively "share" parking resources.
The success of such a strategy is heavily dependent on the implementation of clear and effective signing for drivers to direct them to the most appropriate car parks for their destination.
PGI systems are installed to provide information to drivers searching for a parking space; reducing congestion by removing circulating and queuing traffic. This leads to a reduction in vehicle emissions. PGI systems can also help improve car park turnover and occupancy rates, spreading and balancing demand between available parking provisions.
The first phase of Gatesahead Council's PGI system is centred on the Gateshead Quays and consists of five strategically located fixed-plate signs with variable elements supplemented by complementary fixed plate signs to direct traffic to the car parks off supporting the Sage Gateshead and other venues in the Gateshead Quays, such at the BALTIC, Centre for Contemporary Art.
In the longer term the Council's aspiration is to install a new Urban Traffic Management and Control compliant installation, which would allow for the future phased expansion of the system as the development of the Gateshead Quays and the Town Centre progresses. This would also allow the system to be used extensively as a network management tool. All the interim work has been done in a manner that allows the installed equipment to be utilised for such a scheme.