New parking meters will be installed in the Roosevelt Row area to increase parking turnover in downtown Phoenix.
This move will add 180 new parking meters to the approximately 2,000 already in operation around the city, according to the city’s Street Transportation Department website. The installation process will begin in late February.
The meters will all be placed between Fillmore Street on the south, Portland Street on the north, Central Avenue to the west and Fifth Street to the east, according to the city.
The majority of the new parking meters will be placed north of Pierce Street and west of Third Street, according to the map of the new parking meters.
The 180 parking meters were requested by both Roosevelt Row Merchants Association and the Evans-Churchill Neighborhood Association through their commissioned non-governmental parking committee.
During the Dec. 8 Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee meeting, Street Transportation Director Ray Dovalina said the request from area businesses and residents to expand the number of meters in this area aims to improve parking turnover.
According to Dovalina’s report to the subcommittee, the Street Transportation Department has worked closely with residents, businesses, Arizona State University, and neighborhood organizations such as Roosevelt Row, Downtown Voices Coalition, Downtown Phoenix, Inc., and Evans Churchill to gather input and improve parking availability.
Many of the new metered parking spots will replace spots that previously had no time limit and were often occupied. According to the Street Transportation Department, the purpose of the meters is to free up parking that was previously filled the majority of the time.
The meters will allow 2-hour parking on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and 4-hour parking between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. On weekends, 4-hour parking will be allowed between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.
Phoenix will still keep around 500 free and unrestricted parking spaces within that area, according to the press release.
Contact the reporter at Kmlane5@asu.edu.
