New parking spots downtown designed for reverse approach

The newest parking spaces downtown are designed a little differently.

The city recently installed angled back-in parking at 11th Street and Dakota Avenue alongside EmBe.

“In the mornings and afternoons for their day care, they have a  lot of drop-offs and pickups,” traffic engineer Heath Hoftiezer said.

“One of the things they want to do is add more stalls in this area potentially, and this did increase the number of parking stalls.”

The new angled parking is designed for drivers to back in when they park and then pull forward when they leave the space.

“And along with that, now when you open up your door, there’s a straight path from the door to the sidewalk, so when you’re getting your kids, it kind of guides them going toward the sidewalk,” Hoftiezer said.

The approach is considered safer for bicyclists too as opposed to how drivers traditionally back out of parking spaces, he said. Dakota Avenue also includes designed routes for bikes.

“The idea behind that is that when you’re parking, you see your surroundings as you’re pulling up to the spot and backing in, and then when you’re leaving, you have a very good visual field of what you see, so if a bike was coming, you would see them.”

The spaces are designed wider than some for ease of use.

“They’re actually fairly spacious, so if you want to give it a try backing in, I think you’ll be surprised how easily it can be done,” Hoftiezer said.