What End Islands Do in a Parking Lot

End islands sit at the ends of stall rows. They keep cars out of the aisle intersection, hold a sign or a tree, and protect the stall line. They reduce the stall count and add curb. Paint alone will be driven over. A curbed island has to drain.

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They close the end of the row

End islands sit at the ends of stall rows, where the row meets the drive aisle or the intersection. They keep cars from cutting the corner through the last stalls, they give you a place for a sign or a tree, and they protect the stall line from turning traffic. Without them, the last stall becomes a turning lane and the stripe disappears under tires. If the island is only paint, cars will drive over it the first week. A curb, even a low one, is what makes the island real. Ask the quote whether the island is curbed, painted, or both. A painted nose on empty asphalt is not the island the sketch pretended to count.

Every island spends stalls and adds edge

An island reduces the stall count. A 9 foot planning stall that becomes an island is one car you do not get, and a wider island for a tree spends more. Add the curb length to the job, because curb is a separate item from asphalt tons. The asphalt around the island is still paved area. If the island itself is landscaped, do not include its dirt area in the hot mix tons. For the paved remainder, plan compacted mix near 145 pounds per cubic foot. A planning overlay at 2 inches on 1,000 square feet is about 12.1 tons. The plant ticket is the real weight. Measure the paved shape, not the property line, after the islands are drawn.

Water has to get past the curb

A curbed island is a wall to sheet flow. If the asphalt slopes toward it and there is no inlet or a gap, you build a pond at the nose of the row. That pond ices, and it sits where people walk to their cars. Slope the pavement so water moves along the curb to a place it can leave, or break the curb for drainage. Do not fill the low spot with sealer or cold patch to make it look even. Accessible routes that pass an island still have to meet the current ADA Standards, so ask the local official before a curb blocks the path from the access aisle to the door. Put the island, the curb, and the drain on one sketch before the paver arrives.

A practical sequence

Place end islands at the ends of stall rows where cars would otherwise cut the corner.
Curb them if you expect the island to survive, because paint gets driven over.
Drop landscaped island area out of the asphalt tons and keep the surrounding pavement in.
Grade the asphalt so water does not pond against the curb.

The mistake to skip

Painting an end island on flat asphalt and counting on drivers to honor it.

Questions people ask

Why not just paint the end of the row?

Paint does not stop a turning car. End islands work when they are curbed, so they keep vehicles out of the intersection, protect the stall line, and can hold a sign or a tree. They reduce the stall count. The asphalt around a curbed island still has to drain, or you trade a shortcut for a pond.

Do islands change the asphalt tons?

Landscaped island area is not asphalt, so leave it out of the mix order. The drive and the stalls around it stay in. Plan that paved area near 145 pounds per cubic foot. One thousand square feet at 2 inches is about 12.1 tons as a planning estimate. The plant ticket is the real weight. Curb is its own line on the quote.

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