Aspen City Council signed off on a plan to one way three blocks of downtown Aspen in order to create more parking spaces.
At a work session Tuesday, Aspen parking director Tim Ware told the council that the original plan to one way an additional three blocks — from the “restaurant row” section of Hopkins Avenue up Mill Street and around the Wheeler Opera House on Hyman Avenue — would not work because the street is too narrow. But Ware said a one-way experiment on Galena Street south of Hopkins Avenue, continuing along Cooper Avenue until Hunter Street was worth trying. The one ways will be in place by mid-June.
By converting the two-lane streets to one-lane one ways, the extra space could be used to change parallel parking to angle-in parking, which causes a net increase of parking available on a given block. By making the section of Galena and Cooper one way, 20 parking spaces will be gained.
The street near the Wheeler Opera House was found to be too narrow for the increased parking scheme, because with angle-in parking on either side, there would not be the required 20 feet of clearance required by fire engines.
The one-way experiment is just that. At the end of the summer, the city will evaluate the program for its pros and cons. If the experiment is deemed a success, the city will explore making one ways out of more downtown Aspen streets. If not, the one ways could go away.
The city will need to purchase new signs to alert drivers of the one ways, as well as “do quite a bit of education” to let drivers know what is going on, Ware said.
The plan was not a total slam dunk as head city engineer Tricia Aragon and Community Development Director Chris Bendon voiced some safety concerns.
Forty-one percent of Aspen’s traffic accidents involve someone backing out of an angle-in parking space, Aragon said, citing a study done for the city three years ago. Increasing the amount of angle-in parking will increase those risks, Aragon said. She recommended hiring a transportation engineer to plan out the signage and to further evaluate the program. The council authorized the parking department to hire extra help if necessary, but Ware said his department could handle the workload on the three blocks. However, if the city sought to expand one ways more, a consultant would be brought in to study it further.
Bendon asked the council to “keep in mind the visuals” as angle-in parking decreases what a person can see when looking across the street. Angle parking also makes it harder for pedestrians to cross the street midblock. Although he offered his support to the experiment, Bendon asked the council to keep these concerns in mind.
The plan passed with unanimous council support, although Councilman Jack Johnson said he was concerned that the one-way streets would add to an already confusing downtown street layout for drivers that the three blocks of downtown pedestrian malls can cause.
curtis@aspendailynews.com
