Downtown Parking Plan
Summary
The purpose of the plan is to simplify and make downtown parking more
user friendly. The mechanical parking meters will be replaced with
electronic meters. The current parking fee structure of eight different
hourly rates will be simplified to one hourly rate city wide. The
number of time limits will be reduced from six (15, 30, 60, 120, 300 &
600 min.) to two (120 & 300 min.). Free Saturday parking will be
implemented. A five minute grace period will be implemented allowing
parking customers to park up to five minutes over time before a ticket
is issued. Meter feeding enforcement will be implemented to increase
short term turnover. Free parking Time Limited zones will be replaced
with parking meters. A prepaid parking program for utility franchise
service vehicles will be implemented exempting the service vehicles from
meter feeding enforcement.
Status
A Request for Proposal (RFP) for an electronic parking meter system has
been advertised. The Law Department is drafting ordinances to implement
the program. Award of the RFP is anticipated in June 1996. The
conversion to electronic meters will be over a two to three year plan.
The first phase of installation is expected to be complete by August 1996.
The ordinance amendments required to implement the plan will be
completed by July 1996.
Issues
The remaining issue that needs to be resolved to complete the
recommended plan is to establish the amount of funding for the Great
Streets Program to be allocated from parking meter revenue.
Description
This program is the result of two proposals presented to the Downtown
Subcommittee of City Council. These proposals were submitted by 1) the
Downtown Management Organization, Inc. (now the Downtown Austin
Alliance) and 2) the City of Austin Downtown Commission. The proposals
were developed after numerous meetings with City staff regarding what
was perceived as a confusing system of metered parking downtown.
Basic Data
- Project Contact: Brian Van De Walle, Engineer III, Public
Works and Transportation, 479-6037
- Project Manager: Morris Poe, Staff Support Supervisor, Public
Works and Transportation, 478-3669
- Contractor: Not Yet Selected (Electronic Meters)
- Bid Date: February, 1996
- Contract Awarded: Electronic Meter Bid Opening - March 19, 1996
- Construction Start Date: July, 1996
- Completion Date: August, 1996 (Phase One)
- Amount Appropriated: $458,000 (Phase One)
- Estimated Construction Cost: $1,020,200
- Funding Source: Reimbursement Resolution to General Fund
Revised May 1, 1996
Back to the May 1996
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