Skip to Content
Streetsblog USA home
Streetsblog USA home
Log In
Parking Madness 2019

We’re Looking for the Most Improved Parking Crater!

Downtown Denver in the 1970s vs. today. Before photo: Nick DeWolf via Flickr

It's March, so that means it's time for our annual March Madness-style tournament comparing some of the most disappointing missed opportunities in urban environments: surface parking lots, or, as we like to call them: parking craters.

This year, the sixth year of the tournament, we want to mix things up a little, put a happy spin on things. This year's competition will feature former parking craters that are now awesome city spaces.

We're looking for entries for Most Improved Parking Crater! The above aerial showing downtown Denver in the 1970s vs. today is a great example of the kind of improvements cities can make with the right mix of attention, policy and investment.

Send your entries, including photos and a short description to Angie Schmitt at Streetsblog by merely clicking that link by Monday March 18. Or leave the information in the comments. (But we'll still need a picture, so email is best.)

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog USA

Shoveling a Snowy Sidewalk Is An Act of Resistance

Shoveling a sidewalk in winter is always a critical act of community care — but in an era of government assault on civil liberties, it's also an act of resistance.

February 2, 2026

Monday’s Headlines Are for Alex Pretti

Cyclists banded together in cities across the country to honor the ICE victim.

February 2, 2026

Friday Video: Should We Stop Calling Them ‘Low-Traffic Neighborhoods’?

Is it time for London's game-changing urban design concept to get a rebrand?

January 30, 2026

Friday’s Headlines Yearn to Breathe Free

While EVs aren't the be-all end-all, especially when it comes to traffic safety, they do make the air cleaner. Most of the U.S. is falling behind on their adoption, though.

January 30, 2026

Talking Headways Podcast: One Year of Congestion Pricing

Danny Pearlstein of New York City's Riders Alliance breaks down how advocates made congestion pricing happen in the Big Apple.

January 29, 2026

Improving Road Safety Is A Win For The Climate, Too

Closing the notorious "fatality target" loophole wouldn't just save lives — it'd help save the human species from climate catastrophe, too.

January 29, 2026
See all posts