Carbon County has seen a significant increase in the parking lot usage over the last year.

On Thursday, Commissioner Chris Lukasevich provided an update on the parking lot since the kiosks went into operation at the beginning of this year.

On Dec. 26, the county hit the $1 million milestone in revenue generated from people parking in the lot during the year.

He thanked the couple who was the one to push the county revenue over the threshold, as well as all the visitors and residents who have visited Jim Thorpe and Carbon County over the last year.

“I would note that parking revenue is up 105% since 2019,” Lukasevich said.

In 2019, approximately 60,000 vehicles parked in the county-owned lots.

That number increased to over 87,000 in 2021.

Lukasevich credited the work of the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, the Carbon Chamber and the businesses, notably Reading Blue Mountain and Northern, for their work at promoting the town and the county as a tourist destination.

He also commended the county’s parking staff for working together.

The money generated from the parking fees is used for upkeep of the county parking lots, renovation projects that benefit recreation and tourism such as the boat launch at Mauch Chunk Lake Park, the care of the Jim Thorpe Train Station and Josiah White Park, and other infrastructure projects regarding parking.

Carbon County installed the pay-by-plate kiosk ticketing system on Jan. 22.