Results tagged “parking>”

WMATA sent out word today that it will be keeping the Metro system station open late on Tuesday night in order to accommodate U2 fans coming home from FedEx Field. All stations except Morgan Boulevard will be exit-only after midnight, but those who enter at Morgan Boulevard after midnight will find both trains waiting for them at that station, and additional trains at all transfer points on the Blue Line to take them to their destinations, Metro spokesperson Steven Taubenkibel said.

The Washington Times today carries news that will surely embolden area drivers and challenge District parking authorities.

Despite complaints by some Ward 6 residents about idling engines, the Nationals say they will continue to offer shuttles from RFK to Nationals Park this season, WTOP's Adam Tuss reports. Like last year, Nats fans will be able to park for free at RFK and catch the free shuttle to the ballpark. More interesting: Tuss notes that "Team officials have not yet announced plans for any changes to parking around the stadium." Considering all the fear mongering about traffic and parking nightmares that never materialized, you'd think the Nats might want to try to do something more with the mostly empty, hideous above-ground parking lots in front of the stadium.

As we noted a couple of weeks ago, mechanical street sweepers will once again exert their significant muscle over local car owners starting today. Of course, technically, the District won't start handing out tickets for violations until the March 30 -- but considering the current budget crisis, we wouldn't want to be pushing the limits of anything involving the District and fines its agencies are collecting. Anyway, be sure to keep your eyes peeled for those "No Parking/Street Cleaning” signs from now on, lest your car be subject to the brutality of the new "Sweepercam" system. (Can we start the countdown to when "Sweepercam" will be self-aware yet?)

• This morning both the Post and the Examiner had stories about how hardly any charter buses have requested to park in Metro's lots. As a result, Metro has decided to open up thousands of spaces for private cars at all but one Metro station parking lot on January 20. Previously, the transit agency had only planned to offer public parking at a handful of its lots, reserving the rest of its spaces for charter buses.
• The additional parking is really good news, because it's looking like no one will be able to drive into the District from Virginia on Inauguration Day. On the heels of this morning's news that the Key Bridge will be closed to traffic, the Post reports that they're waiting on an expected announcement from the U.S. Secret Service on plans to close every single Potomac bridge crossing to private vehicles on January 20. Drivers will still be able to reach the city from Maryland via the Sousa, Whitney Young and Benning Road bridges over the Anacostia, and from New York Avenue, but given that it will also be virtually impossible to park inside the city, officials are discouraging everyone from attempting the drive.

After a first vote in late December, on Tuesday the D.C. Council gave final approval to a measure that doubles parking meter rates downtown from $1 to $2 an hour, reports WTOP's Mark Segraves. The rate hikes will also hit other parts of town, though less so -- expect to pay a quarter more an hour. District officials expect the hike to raise an additional $2 to $7 million a year, which will be directed to affordable housing programs and restoring the O Street Market.

You've got a car. But hey, you're not planning on driving anywhere during Inaugural weekend. So no problems, right? Well, maybe.

The Examiner reports that the District's aging parking meters appear to be in desperate need of replacement. The city has received 105,000 complaints about broken parking meters so far in 2008, averaging out to approximately seven complaints for each of the 16,500 meters that exist in the city. Reporter Michael Neibauer crunches the numbers:

Parking meter-related grievances have soared steadily in recent years from 67,813 in 2006 to 94,049 in 2007 to the nearly 105,000 so far in 2008.

Continue reading "D.C. Parking Meter Complaints Way Up"

Give thanks! The annual winter parking ticket reprieve, courtesy the D.C. Department of Public Works, finally arrives this Friday, when the city will suspend alternate-side residential street sweeping for the season. The official release is just about to be posted to the DPW web site, according to spokesperson Linda Grant, but here's the text from the announcement:

The DC Department of Public Works (DPW) announced today that weekly (signed), residential mechanical street cleaning will end for the season Friday, November 28, 2008. “No parking/street cleaning” restrictions will be lifted and motorists may park along posted, alternate-side, daytime street sweeping routes without being required to move their cars on street-cleaning days.

Continue reading "Street Sweeping Ends on Friday, Nov. 28"

Back in May, we learned about the National Zoo's desire to install an aerial tram, similar to the one at the San Diego Zoo (pictured left). Today, the Examiner and AP are reporting that massive, 20-year long $1 billion master plan to renovate the Zoo has been approved, and it includes installing the aerial tram.

If you work anywhere near the intersection of Connecticut Ave. and K Street NW, you've been following the spectacular demolition of the two buildings formerly located at 1701 and 1725 K Street NW earlier this year. Now that the corner is a big, gaping hole in a prime downtown location, we've been eagerly awaiting the word on when construction would begin on the new 12-story office complex that is planned to replace it. But this morning, the Post broke some bad news: the parcel's developer wants to turn the whole thing into a parking lot, at least for a year or two.

The developer demolished two office buildings at the intersection's northwest corner this year after winning D.C. approval to replace them with a 12-story office complex designed by the architecture firm founded by I.M. Pei.

Continue reading "Valuable K Street Land to Become Parking Lot? Ugh."

Just last week, D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) introduced legislation that would impose stricter regulations on parking in certain residential neighborhoods, primarily those around active commercial areas such as Adams Morgan. Today we find out that Mt. Pleasant is looking to try out a new parking approach of its own.

In May, we wrote about how stricter residential parking rules were desperately needed in Adams Morgan. Yesterday, Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham's office sent out the following announcement:

D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham (D-Ward One) this week introduced a bill that will protect and enhance residential parking in Ward One. Ward One attracts many non-residents who park on neighborhood streets. As a result residents – even with residential parking permits – can’t find parking near their homes. The bill would preserve street parking for residents by restricting certain areas to RPP holders only. It would also create a more efficient system for metered street parking in commercial areas.

Here's a question: if you have access to a car, have you ever driven it to the DCUSA complex? Or how about your local supermarket?

It seems amazing to me that the District government doesn't impose an additional fee when it tows cars illegally parked in rush hour lanes. Whenever possible the city just moves cars to another nearby street, gives the driver a $100 ticket, and that's it, no additional towing fee. Considering the inconvenience drivers who leave their cars in rush hour lanes cause to everyone, the practice seems a little too fair. Well now the D.C. Council looks poised to do something about it. The Examiner reports that they have tentatively approved an additional $100 "vehicle relocation fee" that drivers would be charged on top of the parking ticket fine. The fee is designed to allow DPW to hire more independent tow trucks to help move more vehicles out of the way. Seems like a pretty reasonable solution.

The Washington Times reported today that a few of the truckers who showed up on Tuesday for a protest against high gas prices had their trucks towed from a motel parking lot in Landover Hills, Md. Each of the three drivers who had their trucks towed have been fined $2,000 by the towing company; the trucks were apparently parked next to a hard to see "no parking" sign. Considering only about 20 drivers showed up out of the hundreds that were expected, these drivers have got to be pretty pissed they bothered to show up at all.

If you're a frequent parker in Arlington, you may want to budget in some extra cash for a rate hike at parking meters. According to the Examiner, Arlington County officials are considering making some sweeping changes to the current system, such as extending the metered hours and raising the current flat rate of $1 per hour.

The District's Department of Public Works today begins using its new "SweeperCam" technology, those cameras attached to street sweepers that can take photos of illegally parked cars and issue parking citations to them. In a press release, the department says that for the next 45 days, illegally parked cars caught on the "SweeperCam" will receive warnings only. Regular tickets with fines attached will be issued beginning October 14, 2008. DPW officials stressed that the goal of the program is to keep streets clear of cars during street cleaning so that sweepers can do their jobs.

The D.C. Council was supposed to be on recess starting today, but they couldn't quite get through their packed legislative session Tuesday, so they'll be coming back for more on Thursday. Hopefully Carol Schwartz can stand being away from Rehoboth for a couple more days.

Yesterday City Desk pointed us to the YouTube video above concerning something that always fires up District residents -- parking. The video in question creatively makes a point that's long been a reality for residents of Adams Morgan and its surrounding neighborhoods -- people who go out in Adams Morgan tend to park pretty much anywhere they want.

Seems like just about everything about driving a car in this city is becoming more expensive these days. WTOP reports that parking fees at both National and Dulles airports will go up on June 1.

If you're heading down to Nationals Park tonight to watch the team face the Mets at 7:10 p.m., you might like to know that you suddenly have a new option in terms of transportation: you can actually just drive and pay $15-$20 to park when you get there.

The Examiner reports on a new bill before the D.C. Council that would levy a $25 per month tax on all private employee parking spaces. The legislation is the brainchild of Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham and At-large member Phil Mendelson, and is designed to discourage employees from driving in to work even though they have access to a parking space at their office.

Yeah, Zimmerman's walk-off was memorable.

DCist fanboy-in-chief Charles Gray tells us that Ryan Zimmerman found the zone for the Nats' stadium opener, swatting a tie-breaking walk-off home run for the win in the ninth. Woo! But Nationals fans — as well as residents and other visitors to the new stadium area — were less thrilled to find themselves in the Nats' new parking zone.

Ross Bradford lives in the 1300 block of Delaware Ave. SW, and recently received his very own visitor parking permit, part of the District's new pilot residential parking restriction program in the Southwest and Near Southeast neighborhoods around the new Nationals stadium. Bradford told us the visitor permit, pictured above, was sent to him by the D.C. Department of Transportation without him having to do anything. Each household in the designated neighborhoods gets a total of one pass.

Both the Post and WTOP have stories this morning announcing the National Park Service's decision to close the tiny Tidal Basin parking lot during the National Cherry Blossom Festival this year. Talk about overdue ideas. Anyone who's been down to see the blossoms at peak hours over the last decade can tell you that the additional traffic caused by the yahoos who seem to think they'll be able to snag a spot in the lot, which has only 180 parking spaces, is a nuisance that should have been done away with long ago.

We were just forwarded what may be the worst, and somehow at the same time the absolute greatest, Metro ad campaign we've ever run across. The video above, uploaded to YouTube yesterday, is part of WMATA's efforts to make sure as many people as possible take public transportation to the new Nationals Park at the Navy Yard, instead of driving.

D.C.'s annual St. Patrick Day’s Parade is this Sunday, March 16, beginning at noon. The MPD sent around a reminder about parking restrictions and street closures, so we're posting it here.

Here's a good question raised by WTOP's Adam Tuss: Should the shuttle that's supposed to take people who park at RFK on Nationals game days to the new stadium at the Navy Yard make a stop along the way?