It's a game played by most people coming downtown: See if you can find the parking space closest to your destination with the least amount of searching.
On a Jazz game night or during the holiday shopping frenzy, this game can drain the pleasure from any excursion. Shoppers and fans arrive tense and testy after long minutes spent circling the block.Salt Lake City Planning Director Bill Wright may have found a soothing solution: a high-tech sign system that gives motorists up-to-the-minute reports on available parking stalls as the motorists drive into town.
Wright discovered the system in the heart of Germany and immediately thought of home. "We have always been hammered about parking downtown," he said. People believe there is little downtown parking. "There is actually a lot, but people have a hard time finding it or don't know where it is. So we are always worrying about ways to let people know what parking is available and where it is."
With this system, motorists could learn of available parking stalls as they come off the freeway, Wright said. Discreet electronic signs would tell motorists how many parking stalls are available in major parking lots.
"It isn't a glaring billboard. It's very subtle, yet informative."
The system would be linked to ticket dispensers and pay windows of the major lots. As motorists enter and leave the lots, the number of available stalls is updated on the electronic sign, he said.
Wright saw the system used in Frankfurt, Berlin and Bremen during a 30-day German fellowship to study urban issues there. The cities using the system ranged in population from 300,000 to 3.2 million.
He will begin making presentations about the sign system during the holidays, a time when downtown parking is on most city officials' minds.
The German sign system reports regions of town with available parking to motorists who are several miles from town. As the motorists draw closer, the signs become more specific, citing available stalls in particular lots, Wright said.
"We'd have to look at travel patterns to find the best locations for the signs," he said. The city must also decide what motorists its trying to help out: the retail shopper, sports fans, concertgoers or tourists.
Information for one group may not be useful for the other, Wright said.
Then there is the sticky problem of garage owners. Since most downtown parking is pay parking, some might claim the signs are actually free advertising for the larger parking garages, Wright said. "There are a lot of details to work out."
But the details and the unknown cost haven't blunted his enthusiasm. "This is an interesting design concept that could blast this image that there is nowhere to park downtown."
Wright spent 30 days touring German cities along with city department heads from three other cities. The annual John McCloy fellowship is sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the American Council on Germany.