Kill head-in parking

Parkersburg Mayor Bob Newell has opted, supposedly as a trial, to make a portion of Market Street in the downtown district one lane, with head-in parking on one side of the street and a 15-mile-an-hour speed limit.

The mayor says he's doing it as a test in response to business operators' request for more parking in the downtown district.

My guess is the reduced speed limit will generate a tidy sum in fine money, too, if the police choose to enforce the speed limit.

I also wonder how many accidents are going to be either caused or nearly caused because of cars parked beside vans or trucks being forced to back blind into oncoming traffic. The city contends the safety factor is one of the reasons for the reduced speed limit, not the possibility of increased fine money.

Another problem created by the one-lane traffic on Market Street is the backup of traffic when a motorist is trying to back out from the head-in parking or park or leave a parking place on the other side of the street. Traffic comes to a dead halt, causing it to back up between Fourth and Fifth through the intersection, leaving motorists on Fifth stalled waiting to make a left turn.

At Eighth and Market buses have to pull into the middle lane to make a left turn onto Market, instead of being in the curb lane, which is from where the turn is supposed to be made.The curb lane is a left turn or through lane, meaning the buses are turning in front of a vehicle that might be intending to go through the intersection.

If businesses are so concerned with parking places, maybe they should obtain parking spaces in some of the area parking lots. I've also heard allegations that employees of downtown businesses park in available street parking spaces on a rotating bases, which certainly would defeat the concept of having parking for customers.

Hopefully the mayor will kill this trial run idea very quickly.