With more housing and shopping coming soon to Fifth Street and the riverfront in Eugene, how will people come and go?
Jeff Petry is the Parking Services Manager. He says they’re looking at how to best use their current resources.
“The common phrase is ‘Build a parking garage,’ and we’ve looked at that." says Petry. "That’s $20, $30, maybe $40 million dollars and the debt service payment, which is like a mortgage payment, is $2 to $3 million per year. That’s a lot of money to invest in a parking garage and that may be the right decision, but we want to use some new technology, gather data on how people are parking and moving around the downtown core and campus area.”
Petry says cameras on the new electric parking patrol vehicles will give them a good map of how parking spaces are used. They’re working with LTD, bike share and scooter providers to come up with options for the additional visitors. One idea is a “travel wallet,” which would allow people to park a couple of days a week and provide a bus pass for the rest.
