Motorists cheer as back-in parking era ends in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS - Parking spaces lost for work zones along the Second Avenue and Third Avenue bridges and First Street SE should be restored this fall, but one thing that won't be returning is back-in angled parking, city officials said on Wednesday.

And, that's a good thing, according to some downtown patrons.

'I don't miss it one bit,” said Jordan Rasmussen, 19, of Cedar Rapids, who was fishing off the Second Avenue Bridge on Wednesday. 'This is much safer.”

Added Leah Bond, a long time employee at the Linn County Courthouse on the Third Avenue Bridge: 'People would get ticked off when you were trying to back in and they have to wait for you, although now when you back out people are coming faster than you think.”

Cedar Rapids officials said the back-in angled parking experiment - in which motorists were required to reverse direction into certain downtown parking slots - is officially over. The hope was to reduce collisions, but the initiative was quickly met with backlash as being confusing and difficult.

'It tended to be not well received,” said Jon Rouse, general manager of Park Cedar Rapids. 'We don't see a lot of communities doing it, so it was confusing, especially if you aren't in downtown much. But, the numbers told the story. It is safer.”

Visitors coming to town for the Linn County Courthouse, for example, could be caught by surprise by the parking rules, he said. A handful of posted signs directed motorists to back-in, and violators could receive fines starting at $25.

Cedar Rapids City Council had approved back-in angled parking in 2008, citing research it leads to fewer accidents. Spots along First Street SE, and the Second Avenue and Third Avenue bridges were targeted.

Matt Myers, a Cedar Rapids traffic engineer, said the back-in pattern helps eliminate blind spots, such as missing a smaller vehicle or bicycle, when people reverse out of a parking spot into downtown traffic, but he agreed many motorists are not accustom to the maneuver.

By 2011, under pressure from business owners and others, the phasing out of back-in parking began. First Street parking was converted to front-in. By the end of last fall, as part of one-way to two-way street conversions on the bridges, the last vestiges of back-in parking spots were removed or converted, Myers said.

When traffic is restored on the bridges, a mix of front-in angled parking and parallel parking options is to be available, he added. Several spots are open while others have been consumed as staging space for construction.

When fully reopened, the number of spaces on the Second Avenue Bridge is to increase from 68 to 75, and the number on the Third Avenue Bridge is to be reduced from 91 to 83, Myers said, noting the counts are approximate. He did not have parking count for First Street.

'We are just re-establishing something people have done for the last couple of decades,” Myers said. 'Everyone understands what needs to happen.”