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WEST MAIN STREET PARKING OPPORTUNITIES AND ANALYSIS City of Charlottesville Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates Inc. | 10 ISSUES AND OPPORTUNITIES Respondents to a public survey conducted as a component of this study were asked their perceptions about West Main Street. Although patrons of the corridor, over two-thirds of respondents did not feel that West Main Street was a very nice place to walk along nor were they satisfied with the current state of parking along the corridor. The West Main Street Streetscape plans proposes to improve the environment, experience and opportunity of West Main Street. It does so through enhancements to the public realm – wider sidewalks, safer bicycle accommodations, greater efficiencies in public transit, and expanded street tree canopy and environmental features. While vehicle travel to and along the corridor is, and remains, a significant and viable alternative, the largest share of the roadway is presently allocated to auto movement and parking. This allocation compromises the viability and enjoyment of other modes. The plan proposes to repurpose some of this right of way to improve the walkability of th e corridor, enhance the visual image of it, and improve safety for all users. The proposed design would result in a net reduction of roughly 30 of the existing 88 on-street parking spaces (roughly one-third). This opportunity for enhancement introduces a potential issue for business access as the majority of patrons, at present, use driving as their dominant travel mode to the corridor. Merchants voiced strong concerns about parking on West Main Street. While many businesses do provide or have access to modest amounts of off street parking, several rely on on-street parking. Business concerns ranged from the need for short term, transactional patron parking, to loading issues, to providing adequate access for their employees. The cited parking pressures from the nearby university and hospital. Weekday daytime constraints are the highest for both on and off- street parking resources. Merchants recognized an opportunity for better management and enforcement of existing on- street spaces. Surveys of the corridor further identified opportunities to utilize off-street parking resources that are generally unused during evening and weekend peak demand hours. In order to gain a true assessment of the parking issues that face both retailers and patrons of the West Main Street corridor an online parking and travel survey was distributed to business owners, customers and publicized to City residents and visitors. The survey focused on gathering information on how people utilized the West Main Street corridor in terms of use (shopping, work, dining etc.), how they access the corridor, when they frequent the corridor and their parking preferences. In addition meetings were held with the business community to discuss their opinions and issues regarding parking along the corridor. PARKING AND TRAVEL SURVEY – BUSINESS OWNERS 23 business owners responded to a survey targeted at gaining insight of their observations and operations. Respondents represented the diverse range of establishments in the corridor. All operate Monday thru Friday, three quarters are open on Saturdays and two thirds open on Sundays. Overall the busiest time for the corridor is on weekdays between 11:00am and 4:00pm.