Big trucks could be subject to new parking rule in downtown Sioux Falls
City Councilors to consider 10-foot clearance rule along Phillips Avenue
Diagonal parking spots along downtown Sioux Falls' busiest commercial corridor could soon be off-limits to your pickup truck.
The Sioux Falls City Council this week will review a proposal from the city’s parking advisory board recommending the city prohibit large vehicles from parking along Phillips Avenue between Ninth and 13th Streets.
Sioux Falls City Councilor Jennifer Sigette told The Dakota Scout Tuesday the idea merits consideration due to safety hazards caused by parked vehicles that protrude into the narrow lanes of traffic along that stretch of Phillips Avenue.
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“Drivers have to go over the center line just to avoid them,” she said, referring to full-size pickup trucks and vans using one of the 142 parking spaces that would be subject to the proposed rule, slated for discussion during the City Council’s informational meeting at Carnegie Townhall Tuesday.
Under the recommendation, parked drivers who fail to leave at least 10 feet of clearance between the center line and their vehicles could be fined $15. The rule would be enforced at all times.
That stretch of Phillips Avenue is 56 feet wide from curb to curb. Factoring for the 60 degree angled parking and bumper overhanging the curb, vehicles exceeding 20 feet in length could be at risk of violating a 10-foot clearance rule if placed on the books.
Sigette said the hearing will determine whether her colleagues are supportive of the measure, noting that she’s not yet committed to carrying the proposal to a vote.
Regardless, the Northwest District councilor said large vehicles shouldn’t park in diagonal spaces along Phillips Avenue and instead should use parking on a side street or in one of the city’s surface lots or parking ramps.
“There are 4,000 parking spots in downtown Sioux Falls and this is just those 142 spots and just on Phillips. So this is very narrow,” she said.
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Will you please consider extending the rule to include Main Avenue between 9th and 13th? As a Main Avenue property owner, I can attest to the danger of having to pull out of diagonal parking spaces when you are next to a pickup truck. Please think this out a little better. If you confine this rule just to Phillips, all these trucks will then use Main Avenue diagonal parking. Traffic is much faster on main given the two lanes of southbound traffic. Your vehicle has to be out in the lane of traffic before you can see past a pickup next to you.
Although that may be an inconvenience to some drivers because so many people are driving large pickups these days, it would indeed be a lot safer. Not only does one have to cross the line coming down Phillips Avenue, to be able to get past these large vehicles, it is also dangerous and difficult when backing out into the street from a space next to the large pick up because you can't see around them to see what traffic is coming before you back out. Certainly worth considering.