All 22 parking spaces blocked off during resurfacing of State Road 135 in downtown Nashville aren’t likely to come back.
Indiana Department of Transportation spokesman Harry Maginity said April 22 that no parking is in the striping plans as far as he is aware.
“A lot of times when we do a resurfacing, we put the striping back in place much the way it was unless the locals ask us to change,” he said.
Nashville Town Council President “Buzz” King said he wasn’t sure what the final plan would be.
He said he’d approved the idea of eliminating parking on State Road 135/Van Buren Street and that INDOT embraced it. But later, he suggested keeping the parking spaces on Van Buren south of Franklin Street.
“The way they marked it, it looks like they’re going to leave it,” he said about the southern spaces. “There’s plenty of room.”
King supports eliminating parking on Van Buren from Franklin north for safety. Pedestrians frequently dart out from between parked cars. Having a car passing on the road right next to them might deter them, he said.
King said the lost spots may be able to be gained elsewhere in town after repainting is done on side streets. Town utility coordinator Sean Cassiday estimated that would start as early as Monday, April 25.
Maginity said Van Buren striping could start Thursday, April 28. A joint sealant was laid April 21 and it needs a week to cure, he said.
The goal is to have all of it done in time for the Spring Blossom Parade on Saturday, May 7.
Removing or changing parking on Van Buren has been discussed for years.
A downtown plan by Bloomington firm MKSK, completed over several months in 2013 and 2014, included a recommendation to eliminate parallel parking along Van Buren and/or replace the parallel spots at the courthouse with angled parking.
Local residents the planners interviewed said parking along Van Buren was usually used by business owners or employees anyway, and “thus not truly available to visitors or shop patrons.”
Out of the Ordinary will lose three parking spaces in front of the restaurant.
Owner Tonya Harden said she doesn’t think it’ll have any effect on her business other than making it easier for people to turn out of the alley next to it, which leads to a paid parking lot.
Eliminating parking also may help Brown County Playhouse patrons notice the restaurant across the street, she said.
“It is kind of a visual impairment,” she said.
About erasing those spots, “I see it as more of a positive.”
King said if the new parking plan doesn’t work for any reason, “we can always put it back where we want it.”
