Parking Reconfiguration on G Avenue

Last updated on Jan. 29, 2020 

The City of Douglas Mayor and Council recently voted to change parking on certain blocks of G Avenue from parallel to diagonal. The city says this project will create additional parking but decrease the number of traffic lanes in either direction on the avenue. Most business owners along G Avenue are in favor of the change, which is being done as part of the city’s Downtown Revitalization Plan. Parking is the first step in a series of plans to update Douglas’ Historic District. 

Plan Timeline 

• 2010-12: The city commissioned and adopted  a Downtown Revitalization Study and Plan,  but didn’t set money aside in the budget to complete the improvement projects the plan recommended. 

• Early 2019: City Manager Jerene Watson recommended the council revisit the plan and allocate money to start projects as part of the city’s 2019-2020 Budget. 

• Fall 2019: Four public meetings were held to gather resident input.

• October 2019: Based on that feedback, the city ranked preferences among residents and business owners. It was determined that parking was one of the bigger concerns for business owners and shoppers on G Avenue. 

• December 2019: The mayor and council held a work session to discuss parking alignment on G Avenue from SR 80 to 10th Street (from the police station to 10th.) These 4-½ blocks are striped as parallel parking with two travel lanes in each direction plus a center turn lane. The blocks south of 10th Street are striped in angled parking with one travel lane in each direction and a center turn lane.  
  • At the work session the mayor and council gave direction to City administration to begin realignment of the parking north of 10th Street on G avenue to match parking south of 10th Street on G Avenue.  
  • A survey determined that eight out of 10 businesses along that corridor were in favor of the parallel parking change. The Gadsden Hotel and Cochise County Government Center preferred the existing parallel parking structure for loading and unloading purposes. 

• January 2020: The mayor and council unanimously passed a resolution to authorize the reconfiguration of parking in certain areas of downtown. 

• February 3, 2020: Repainting is scheduled to begin early in February

By the Numbers 

What will G Avenue look like?

• On the average block the existing 10 parallel spaces will be replaced with 14 diagonal spaces that include an oversized handicapped space on each side of the street. This will represent a total gain of 40 percent with at least 40 additional parking spaces. 

• Spaces will cost about $5 each to paint. Handicapped spaces will cost about $25 each. Painting will cost less that $500, and removing the old paint will cost about the same for a total estimated cost of $1,000. 

• The areas on the west side of the street between 10th and 11th Streets — which the Gadsden Hotel and Government Center Streets use for loading — will be kept as parallel parking. The east side of the street between 10th and 11th Streets will be diagonal.

• This number of travel lanes along north G Avenue, from SR80 to 10th Street, will decrease from two to one in either direction. The turning lane in the middle will remain. 

• Each block that is repainted will take no more than one day to complete.

• North G Avenue will be reduced to one lane in either direction during the repainting process. 

Concerns 

• During the Jan. 8 meeting of the mayor and council, council member Don Huish mentioned concern about increased traffic incidents with diagonal parking. City Planner Peter Gardner validated that concern and said traffic incidents are more frequent on streets with diagonal parking. Council member Jose Grijalva recommended looking into a permanent speed reduction in that area to avoid potential collisions. Gardner said a speed reduction could be looked into, and the city will do its best to address this concern by educating the public on the upcoming change, which will likely involve press releases and announcements on social media.  

Sources 

City of Douglas Budget FY 2019-2020 

City of Douglas Downtown Revitalization Plan 

City Planner, Peter Garner 

Meeting minutes of the Jan. 8, 2020 regular meeting of the City of Douglas Mayor and Council