City hall hopes to officially clear up confusion about the number of northbound driving lanes on First Avenue Northwest by installing parking stalls during a year-long pilot project.
The initiative will see the municipality install 22 posts with numbered signs — there will not be actual mechanical heads — on the east side of the road from Manitoba Street to Oxford Street, indicating where stalls are.
This will clarify that there is only one northbound driving lane, improve traffic safety and generate additional revenue for city coffers.
Motorists will have to use the HotSpot app at those spots, similar to parking at other stalls downtown. Meanwhile, there will be some stalls dedicated to handicapped parking.
City hall plans to take $4,000 from the parking reserve account — which has $2,078,000 in it — and direct it to the operating budget to support the pilot program.
City council unanimously approved this initiative during its 2023 budget discussions.
City administration had initially recommended that actual parking meter heads be installed for $36,000. However, it suggested the pilot program to save money in this year’s budget.
This is the second time city hall has proposed installing parking meters there. It suggested the same thing during 2021 budget discussions — council rejected the idea — after that street changed in 2019 from two northbound/southbound lanes to one northbound/southbound lane and a common centre turning lane.
If actual metered heads are installed after the pilot project ends, city administration believes each of the 22 stalls could net $320 per year, or $7,040, leading to a repayment in five years.
Council discussion
“We certainly have to do something there. I brought it up a while back that it was really confusing,” said Coun. Doug Blanc. “There are people — and I still see it today — going up two lanes. … People don’t know if there’s two lanes or one lane.
“It has helped with the moving of the (overhead) signs a bit, but it’s still a bit confusing … ,” he added. “Whatever we do, whether it’s the parking meters or the parking app, I think we need to do something there to clarify it.”
The city did reasonably well with phasing in changes to the driving lanes, said Coun. Heather Eby. However, she has noticed that some people are already parking on the east side of First Avenue Northwest, which makes it confusing for other motorists and dangerous throughout the day.
Eby has considered parking there but hesitated because she didn’t know if that was legal or whether she would be towed. However, she thought motorists would be fully aware of the parking situation there once the signs were installed.
“I will be a little hesitant to use the parking app, but I do think it will be a good pilot project,” she added. “And we can always put in metered heads later.”
Coun. Dawn Luhning was concerned that city hall would have to adjust the turning lanes because she thought vehicles would be parked too close to the corners.
In response, Bevan Harlton, director of engineering, said the stalls would stop just before the corners, thereby preventing that problem.
The city has had a “fairly low uptake” on the parking app, so this pilot project will be a good way to push it into people’s minds, said Darrin Stephanson, director of public works. About 10 per cent of motorists use the app while 90 per cent use coins.
“Running this trial in this manner would drive more traffic to that app in the downtown core,” he added. “I expect to see a trickle effect across the city as users park across the city and become comfortable with the app.”
