Change in Urban Parking Restrictions

[burgess87]

I made my way to Buffalo this afternoon to visit my girlfriend.  I noticed these signs posted at the beginning of each block in both directions:



Do other cities sign upcoming changes in parking restrictions?  If so, how do they do it?

In this particular case, this seems to be an advance warning - my girlfriend's parents said that the city hasn't told them what the new restrictions are yet.

[Brandon]

Chicago has perfected the Crouching Tow Truck, Hidden Parking Sign.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Seems like my town's policy is:
1. Sneak a small column in the town's monthly publication – which nobody reads.
2. Put up tiny signs around the town's limits... on 55 mph highways – which nobody can even read (oh, in Helvetica, too).
3. On the day it comes in effect, at midnight, send policemen all over the town to put tickets on parked cars violating the restrictions.
4. Repeat next year.

Since we have pretty snowy winters over here, there are night street parking restrictions in effect during these winters (to let snow plows do their jobs). Problem is... they go in effect a MONTH before it can even start snowing.

[burgess87]

In this particular area, it's alternate side parking.  On one side, the restriction is 4 PM SUN - 4 PM WED; the other side is 4 PM WED - 4 PM SUN.  There are different restrictions in different neighborhoods around the city.

I'll have to keep my eyes out to see what the new restrictions are.

[agentsteel53]

why alternate the parking?  wouldn't it be a lot less disruptive to have one side of the street be permanent parking-permitted and the other side be permanent no-parking?

[Brandon]

why alternate the parking?  wouldn't it be a lot less disruptive to have one side of the street be permanent parking-permitted and the other side be permanent no-parking?

Because politicians (aka morons) design these ideas instead of engineers.

[oscar]

why alternate the parking?  wouldn't it be a lot less disruptive to have one side of the street be permanent parking-permitted and the other side be permanent no-parking?

Might be a variant on a common prohibition on long-term street parking.  Alternate-side parking makes it easy to tell if you've failed to move your car every 72-96 hours. 

[Kacie Jane]

My understanding is that alternate-side parking is more about street cleaning than anything else.  While all the cars are on one side, they clean the other side, and the next day vice versa.  I've never seen/heard of a situation like this though, where the restriction is for half the week per side.

[agentsteel53]

usually the restriction is just for a few hours while the sweeper comes through.  In one particular neighborhood around here, one side of the street tends to be Wednesday morning, the other Thursday morning.

[burgess87]

Around the corner, the restrictions are Monday & Tuesday for one side, and Wednesday-Friday for the other side, with no weekend restrictions.  That may be the case because of the fact that there's a church nearby.

[Dr Frankenstein]

Indeed, alternate side parking is common in Northern areas to let the plow trucks clean the snow off the side of the road. Useful for summer cleaning too.

[burgess87]

I just got a call back from the City of Buffalo's Traffic Engineering Department.  The new restrictions will be:  Alternate side parking; one side restricted from 6 PM MON - 6 PM THU, and the other side restricted from 6 PM THU - 6 PM MON.