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Look north and you’ll see parking meters. Look south and you’ll see parking meters. But on the central Downtown stretch of High Street, there’s not a parking meter to be found. That will soon change as the Department of Public Service plans to begin the installation of approximately 130 new parking meters on High Street before the end of the year.
The idea dates back to the 2010 Downtown Strategic Plan, which called for a new vision of High Street with enhanced public transit systems, transit stations and on-street parking to service new retail businesses. The funding to study these improvements to High Street (and other Downtown streets) was approved back in April of this year.
“The goal is to introduce on-street parking to serve existing and future businesses along High Street,” said Randy Bowman, Division of Mobility Options Administrator at the Columbus Department of Public Service. “The city desires more retail along High Street to serve the growing residential population plus the Downtown workforce.”
A common complaint about Downtown Columbus is that there are already too many parking lots, single-use parking garages and other auto-centric accommodations. An effort to fill in surface parking lots with new development over the past decade has replaced several thousand parking spots with new condo and apartment developments, and consolidated some of the parking spaces into new multi-story garages. Bowman doesn’t see the installation of new parking meters on High as running counter to that ongoing initiative.
“On-street metered parking is very different than off-street parking,” he explained. “On-street parking is typically for short term use and is usually tied directly to the land use that the parking is in front of, to serve restaurants and retailers. This type of parking is critical for both the success of the business and the convenience of the customer. If there is to be more retail on High Street, then the immediacy of parking is important.”
He says that on-street parking also helps with traffic calming measures. One goal of this initiative is to have a safer roadway for all uses, including bicycles, pedestrians, motorists and bus riders. The goal of traffic calming still must be balanced with the goal of preventing traffic congestion. Keeping COTA buses running on time is another important factor.
“Throughout the process, the impact on COTA operations was an important committee consideration,” said COTA President and CEO Curtis Stitt. “As a consequence, we believe that the impact on COTA service would not be substantial.”
Stitt says that a joint monitoring effort between COTA and the Department of Public Service will evaluate the impact the parking meters have on all types of traffic to be able to resolve any issues moving forward. COTA will also be removing two High Street bus stops that are within close proximity to other shelters, and relocating two others to make way for the new parking meters.
In 2011, COTA studied a proposal that called for the development of a Downtown bus transit center, as well as the idea of rerouting bus lines away from High Street to accomodate metered parking. Both ideas were deemed unfeasible due to financial costs and negative impacts to transit scheduling.
“Currently, there is no ongoing study of moving some of COTA’s service from High Street to other streets,” said Stitt. “I believe that there should be an unbiased assessment of how bus service in downtown, and throughout the system, can be improved. If such an assessment finds that realignment of some routes might improve service for COTA riders those realignments should be considered.”
Bowman says that the Department of Public Service would still like to see some bus routes moved away from High Street, and are planning to convert other nearby one-way streets to two-way streets to be able to accomodate moving bus routes in the future.
“These things all work together to respond to the desire for more livable streets Downtown, more bikable streets Downtown, as well as creating the framework that COTA could look at to change their bus routes or bus service Downtown,” he said.
The on-street parking plan calls for the installation of between 120-130 new parking meters on High Street located between Goodale Street and Mound Street. The meters will accomodate adjacent businesses with 30-minute meters near coffee shops and two to three hour meters near restaurants. The meters will all be equipped with “smart” meter heads that will accept major credit cards in addition to coins for payment. Several strategically placed handicap meters are also expected to be installed.
Parking restrictions would also be in place at these new parking meters, prohibiting their use during weekday rush hour from 7am to 9am and 4pm to 6pm. Similar rush hour parking restrictions have been recently removed at the request of business owners who claim that they hurt businesses and prevent customers from stopping during important times of the day.
“We’re trying to be responsive to the land usage that abut these roadways and balance that with the need for maintaining capacity for the motoring public, including buses,” said Bowman. “If we create too much congestion, buses don’t stay on schedule, so we have to balance those needs.”
Cars parked at the new High Street meters during restricted hours will be subject to ticketing and towing.
“Alway look at the signs and stickers,” warned Bowman. “If you have doubts, don’t park there. The signs are always up and they tell when towing is in place. We need people to read the signs.”
A public meting and open house is scheduled this Thursday evening to provide more information about the parking meter plan and to solicit feedback from the public.
“We want to begin installing the meters this year but probably won’t complete the installation this year” said Bowman. “We’re excited about this project because it will continue the momentum to make Downtown more livable.”
For more information about Thursday’s meting, CLICK HERE.
Sadly, if I am getting coffee in the morning it is between 7 and 9am. It still seems muddled. Hopefully they take their time and really plan this out. I also think all those buses weaving in and out of traffic flow will present both safety and schedule delays.
I agree that the ban on parking at these meters during 7am to 9am and 4pm to 6pm will be hugely detrimental to their effectiveness in luring new retailers Downtown. The fact that those are prime rush hour timeframes means that people will be in most need of quick easy parking if they want to stop their cars to get out and get coffee, food, etc.
The fact that businesses have urged city leadership to lift these restrictions in other areas supports the fact that these restrictions are bad for retail business:
http://www.columbusunderground.com/downtown-parking-meter-restrictions-being-lifted
There has to be another work around. Every car towed is a problem.
Kudos to the Department of Public Service for this smart move forward towards making downtown Columbus more vibrant, safe and accessible. I am very much looking forward to High Street no longer being a four lane highway for cars racing through the downtown. Cars will now have to take alternative routes if they wish to speed through downtown just as they currently do in the Short North and campus.
As a past resident of downtown San Francisco and Chicago (two very bicycle friendly cities), it is true that urban streets can comfortably and safely be shared by cyclists, pedestrians, wheelchairs, buses and cars. The on-street parking will have a traffic calming effect (as it does in the Short North) and pedestrians and cyclists will enjoy slower traffic and friendlier streets which adds to a more busting and pedestrian friendly downtown.
Those alternative routes seem to be 4th and Summit which really need to have two way conversions. I really think those urban highways need calmed. They have very negative effects on the neighborhoods they cut through.
As someone who has seen quite a few cars towed from the CAP on High St, I think this is half baked at best. There is also already a problem with bus log jams downtown. They need to plan this more with COTA and moving routes off of High St.
On paper I like having meters for businesses, but I think here it is more complicated than it seems.
Public Meeting & Open House:
Thursday August 2, 5-7 pm; Presentation at 5:30 PM
Mid Ohio Regional Planning Commission
Scioto Conference Room
111 Liberty Street, Suite 100
Columbus, OH 43215
@buckette13 ….. I have no problem with log jams on High Street. As stated by the mayor, this is the backbone to our city, it should be the most vibrant street possible, not a quick shot to the highway.
I am talking about log jammed buses. If you move some routes off of High St that would solve a lot of that problem. Currently that is no longer on the table. I am afraid the infamous wall of buses is just getting more slowed down and moved over into another traffic lane.
The current meter plan does not seem to be comprehensive enough in planning or implementation.
I still don’t know why COTA can’t use 4th St. as the north route and 3rd as the south route through downtown.
High street is not a car thru-way, it’s a central artery for city life. More metered parking seems to me a great way to access all the street life on High St., and encourage there to be more of it. If you want to get to and from downtown, there are already two major north-south freeways serving it, not to mention the fabulous broad one-way streets of 3rd and 4th. But if there aren’t businesses on High that are easy to access, what’s the point of getting downtown at all?
If we want more transit options for a thriving High St. corridor, let’s get the streetcar built. Columbus, we need to work on thinking outside the car.
@buckette13 …. gottcha and I agree. Main bus traffic should be moved to 3rd and 4th (or even a transit station) and just normal bus traffic on High Street.
mrpoppinzs……I 100% agree with you. 4th and Summit Streets could use some calming. It would do wonders for our neighborhood and help in the revitalization. There is a small influx of new business in that area and I can only imagine what it could be if those streets were more like High St. in the Short North.
Not so fast. As long time COTA bus rider, bike rider and pedestrian, I plan to attend this meeting and speak on behalf of those who were not consulted and most affected.
http://www.fightingforohiojobs.org/tell_the_columbus_city_council_don_t_disrupt_the_downtown_bus_routes
This is a good first step but COTA needs to move some routes off of High.
I think COTA needs to move those routes first if this is going to have a chance of working.
@leftovers, if you look at the map someone posted in another thread of where the spots are actually going, it seems like a decent compromise to start off with. Where buses will stop, they often have the entire block. I think it was planned as best it could to balance both at this step.
I would like to see a huge transit center, where people keep catch the bus or taxi, and future rail development.
I’m still trying to figure out where these meters will be placed along High St., but given there’s only going to 120-130 meters on a stretch of roadway that’s nearly a mile-and-a-half long, it doesn’t seem like much. Going to assume in front of the smaller businesses along High St., so that’s a start.
But, as someone who has used COTA in the past when working downtown, I’d hate to see any of their routes moved off High St. The way COTA has everything set up, everything begins or ends there.
Here’s a map of the proposed meter locations:
http://www.considerbiking.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/HighSt-Columbus-dt-parking-sharrows-Aug2012pdf.pdf
How soon is this supposed to happen?
Last paragraph in the article… “We want to begin installing the meters this year but probably won’t complete the installation this year” said Bowman.