Fifteenth Street may soon be one lane wider next to Gateway Mall with the planned removal of a dozen parking metres. (Susan McNeil/paNOW Staff)

By Susan McNeil

Traffic flow

15th St. parking meters one step closer to being gone

Aug 16, 2022 | 1:00 PM

About a dozen parking meters along 15th Street are one step closer to being gone after city council heard more detailed information from staff on how little they are used.

Councillors heard from traffic manager, Evan Hastings, that since Sears closed, the amount of revenue from the parking meters has dropped drastically.

“Unfortunately, in 2017 Sears shut its doors and the usage in the last five years has been greatly reduced. In the last 18 months, these same meters have only earned $58,” Hastings said.

“Operationally, these stalls are no longer justified to upkeep, repair and collect money,” he said.

The average metered stall earns about $880 annually.

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Last year, 15th Street was widened to have a third lane and more and more traffic is using the new lanes.

Even with the increased traffic flow to and from what is Prince Albert’s busiest intersection by Gateway Mall, there is still a bottle neck when westbound traffic on 15th Street reduces from three lanes to two for several blocks.

With this lightly used parking, this recommendation seeks to remove the parking and make it a traffic lane all the way to Second Avenue West.

Five locations are impacted by the change. Gem Denture Clinic and Gateway Mall both want the parking stalls to remain as is by the Prince Albert Police, YWCA and the fire department are all in favour.

The mall said the stalls are needed in order for them to lease the old Sears location, but the fire department said the added lane will improve their response times.

Mayor Greg Dionne said that recent traffic studies show that the flow has changed from the bridge to the top of the hill to now turning onto 15th Street.

The volume has also grown, he said.

“It wasn’t about the buildings or the parking or the meters, it was about making the streets safer for 20,000 people per day to travel,” said Dionne.

Council first discussed removing the parking meters a week ago, delaying the decision in order to give staff time to talk to all the impacted businesses or organizations.

The Monday meeting was of the executive committee, which resulted in a vote to send the matter to the next regular council meeting, scheduled for Sept. 6 at five pm.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @princealbertNOW