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Angle back-in parking in Altoona receives mixed reviews

Saturday, August 6, 2016
Chuck Rupnow | Leader-Telegram

park
L-T Staff photo by Dan Reiland | Altoona has about 115 back-in stalls in the River Prairie Development designed after city officials saw data from other cities that showed a reduction in traffic crashes with this style of parking.

ALTOONA - Mavis Anderson wasn't too sure what to think about the "back-in only angle parking" in Altoona's new River Prairie development off U.S. 53.

"I hate backing up. Heck, I don't even parallel park because it's too hard," said the 64-year-old from Eau Claire. "Whose idea was this? I'm sure whoever came up with it will catch heck from his or her parents or grandparents; that's for sure."

Anderson wouldn't even attempt the back-in angle parking Thursday afternoon, even with no other vehicles in that section.

"How would I explain this at home if I hit something? I just don't get it," she said while trying to conceal a smile. "I guess maybe it's just one of those things that people have to mess around with just for change sake."

Dave Walter, Altoona's director of public works and city engineer, said the new parking style won't involve all the parking spots in the development.

"This was something the City Council discussed some time ago" with an engineering consultant, he said. "In the discussion, it was mentioned that pull-in parking can cause some problems when people are backing up because they can't see approaching cars and approaching bicycles. They gave us this as an option and we decided to go with it."

Traffic crash data from Tempe, Ariz., indicated the city averaged 48 crashes by pull-in parking over a four-year period, but had no crashes with angle back-in parking over the next four years. Crash data presented to Altoona's City Council also included back-in angle parking in Vancouver, Wash.

"Those were pretty good indications," Walter said of the back-in angle parking. "We are aware there may be some hesitation anxiety on the part of drivers to do this. There will also be several public parking areas constructed for people who choose not to park in this manner."

"The back-in angle parking is really no different than trying to parallel park," Walter said. "The way the doors open, you can walk straight back to the sidewalk and you can access your trunk from the sidewalk. There are a number of logical reasons to give this a try."

Walter admitted it's difficult to compare numbers from Vancouver and Tempe, which have populations of 169,000 and 173,000, respectively, to Altoona, which has around 7,100.

"This is not absolutely permanent," he said. "I expect when the frequency of use increases, we'll be getting more calls."

Walter likened the back-in angle parking idea to that of roundabouts and the initial negative response when introduced. "People get used to them and there's a reason for them."

A number of businesses that have their own parking lots in the development have conventional parking spots, while residential buildings will have underground parking.

Rand Strudt, 33, of Fort Atkinson, was on his way Thursday "up north" for fishing when he decided to tour the development after stopping for gas.

"Looks like quite an enterprise they have going on here," he said. "I'm not sure about this backing up stuff, but it'll probably be OK since I have a camera on the back of my truck and all. I just hope we don't have it in Fort because we have terrible drivers there and I can see where something like this would be chaos."

There are about 115 back-in stalls in the development, but more are expected with growth.

"I'm not sure that they really want me to back my big truck up and have my trailer hitch hanging over the sidewalk," Joe Bissell, 46, of Chippewa Falls said Thursday. "I'm guessing I wouldn't be parking this truck in these back-up things anyway, but I wonder about those with bike racks and other stuff on the back ends, if that might cause some problems."

Walter said because of the current low demand for parking in the area, "there will be a grace period" before parking citations are issued by police. "There is no need to get nasty about it, but once it's been going, I'm sure there will be some tickets issued," adding that he has no idea what a citation would cost.

Contact: 715 830-5831, chuck.rupnow@ecpc.com and @crupnow on Twitter

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