ACTION REQUESTED:
Title
Communication from the City Manager and Director Of Public Works with a Request to ADOPT an ORDINANCE Amending CHAPTER 28 of the CODE of the City of Peoria Pertaining to TRAFFIC AND MOTOR VEHICLES to Prohibit Forward-Facing Parking in REVERSE DIAGONAL PARKING SPACES.
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BACKGROUND:
In order to improve the safety, efficiency and use of public roadways, the Public Works Department often looks for new traffic control concepts, such as road diets, bike lanes, or additional on-street parking. One such concept new to Peoria is reverse diagonal parking. Reverse diagonal parking is a method whereby the motorist pulls in front of the diagonal parking space and then backs into it, much like parallel parking. This type of parking has been used successfully in other cities, such as New York, Indianapolis and Washington DC, and is now available in a small area of downtown Peoria.
Reverse diagonal parking has several benefits over traditional diagonal parking, such as giving the driver improved visibility of cars, bikes and pedestrians when exiting the space and entering the flow of traffic. Additionally, this parking method is safer for the vehicle's passengers because they exit the vehicle toward the sidewalk and not into the street. Finally, reverse diagonal parking allows for passengers to load from the sidewalk and not the street-especially the back end of a vehicle-which, in a traditional diagonal parking space, would require access from the traffic lane.
Public Works staff determined that Fulton Street, from Monroe to Jefferson, and on Monroe and Madison, from Main to Fulton were prime spots to install this parking method in Peoria. These areas were selected for several reasons: the traffic is fairly light, the parking lines were badly in need of maintenance, and the area could benefit from a few additional parking spaces, which are afforded by a diagonal layout. The project of installing the reverse diagonal parking ...
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