There are changes coming in downtown Williams, Ariz., that bear watching. From the Williams-Grand Canyon News:
Officials in the city of Williams voted to extend the diagonal parking along Route 66, from Safeway to the Mountainside Inn, during their April 9 regular meeting. While diagonal parking can currently be found in the downtown area alone, city officials plan to lengthen the parking in an effort to both reduce traffic speed in and out of town, and add additional parking spaces throughout Route 66 as it passes through the city.
The addition of diagonal parking will also allow the eventual beautification of the area, officials said, which may include benches and trees throughout the downtown area. The added parking spaces will also change the current two lane sections of Route 66 to one lane. […]
Old Smokey’s Restaurant owner Dan Barnes said that diagonal parking would help slow traffic on the both ends of Route 66, as it will go from a two lanes to one lane.
“Some of those people have not forgotten that they are off the freeway until they get to about Fourth Street, because they’ll be doing 65-70 miles an hour down there,” Barnes said. “It will slow things down and I think it will actually help the community, in terms of people will actually have time to see what’s going on there. I really think that slowing things down will have a significant impact on both ends of town.”
The town’s Fire Department is opposed to the idea because it fears there won’t be enough space to allow firetrucks.
This isn’t mentioned in the article, but I suspect the idea is also meant to also foster additional pedestrian traffic. Lower vehicle speeds and additional shielding from the greater number of parked cars would undoubtedly do that.
I know that a few people who read this site have more knowledge than me about city planning. Is this a good plan? Are there unintended consequences the city may have overlooked?