Visitors to Downtown Akron’s Main Street will find something new today: reverse angle parking between Exchange Street and Bowery Street, and it’s free on-street parking for the next 2 weeks in this demonstration area.
The City of Akron re-lined Main Street parking spaces over the weekend, creating additional on-street parking on both sides of Main between Bowery and State Street, and on the east side of main between State and Exchange.
Reverse-angle parking has been in place for several years between Exchange and Cedar, and was launched as an experiment in Highland Square 10 years ago.
City officials say that the new design will create additional on-street parking to serve merchants and offices on Main Street. Free parking will be in place until mid-September, when new pay-by-space parking stations are installed that will accept dollar bills and credit cards as well as coins.
Traffic studies show that reverse-angle parking is safer. It requires the same movement as front-angle parking, but allows the driver to pull out into traffic by being able to see both ways.
City officials also say that with Main Street reduced to one travel lane in each direction between Bowery and State, it will force drivers to proceed more slowly. Such "traffic calming" measures have been in place for years in major cities around the U.S., creating a more pedestrian-friendly environment.
