Parking Lot Pavement Design

Purpose and Methodology

The purpose of this policy is to provide the requirements and guidance regarding the design of parking lot pavement profiles in order to provide and maintain adequate emergency access. This policy will ensure that heavy fire apparatus can access all required portions of buildings within our city without causing damage to the fire access roadway. The requirements for fire apparatus access roads can be found in Appendix D of 2018 International Fire Code. The design requirements listed in this policy are intended to provide clarification for minimum pavement design requirements. The City of Lenexa requires an SU-30 driving template to be used with respect to spatial layout. Further requirements regarding spatial layout can be found in 2018 IFC; Appendix D.

The methodology will be to require specified pavement profile design standards / calculations for all areas designated as “required fire access routes”. These required routes will be identified during application review by City Staff and relayed to the applicant for appropriate design consideration.

It should be noted that current design requirements for such items as public roadways and private roadways (which must be designed to public standards) will not change. In addition, alternative design preferences for certain location may be used provided they exceed these minimum requirements, for example, in areas where even more stringent design parameters are necessary (such as dock locations).

Design Requirements

All paved areas within 50 feet of a structure, along with all designated fire access routes, must be designed such that they are capable of supporting an imposed load of at least 75,000 pounds.

Designated fire access routes shall be determined by the Fire Marshal with discretion on a case-by-case basis to determine or add any locations that will be necessary in order for the site and structure to be appropriately accessible for emergency services.

For convenience, a few examples of existing parking lots within Lenexa are attached in link below in order to provide a feel for the intent and scope of a designated fire access route.

Parking lot pavement design policy with examples (PDF)