The city has increased the number of angle parking spaces that will soon be available in the downtown area.
Instead of 12 new stalls as originally planned, there will now be about 29 more stalls available on Perron Street, as part of a new angle parking pilot project.
The project will run for one year starting in early June. The goal is to provide a solution to parking shortages in the area at a low cost.
The added spaces were approved by the city upon further review of traffic in the area, said transportation manager Dean Schick.
“We maintained some parallel parking because the initial thought was that there may be some conflict from the laneway,” he said. “But with more detailed review there was not and so we went ahead with that further change.”
Construction of the project will take place between May 31 and June 2, pending weather conditions. Construction crews will change line markings and install new signs.
All the work will take place after 8 p.m. to minimize traffic disruption.
The added parking spots will be created at various locations along the east side of Perron Street.
Two parallel parking spaces will remain in front of 3 Perron Place.
“One of the reasons for that is it’s in that transition zone for northbound vehicles,” said Schick. “It allows for increased visibility and that extra little space for people to get into the inside lane.”
The aim of the pilot project is to increase parking, enhance safety, decrease collision rates and improve walkability in the downtown area.
The project will also reduce speed limits to 40 kilometres per hour on Perron, St. Thomas and St. Michael streets, and reduce Perron Street from two travel lanes to one.
While residents have addressed concerns that reducing the lanes and creating angle parking will increase the number of collisions in the area, city administration disagrees.
Parking and possible conflict is a concern on any road, said Schick. He added that St. Michael Street has a similar setup and there is no more concern about possible collisions on that street.
“It makes no difference whether it’s angled or parallel,” he said. “The onus needs to be on us as drivers for recognizing that the conflicts do occur. And this is also one of the reasons why we are looking at reducing the speed.”
After the project has concluded its year-long trial, success of the new parking scheme will be evaluated based on four criteria: the reduction of collision rates, an increase in pedestrians, a reduction of speed, and feedback from the downtown community and its users.
