Broad street parking problems

[whitmans77]

Maybe its laziness , its just what people are used to. And that is not walking. We are such a vehicle-oriented town. That is also why "work,live,play" developments have not taken off in the area. We love our cars. I think this will change as downtown grows and the reasons to go down there increase. This is a really good problem to have

[EastsideDave]

I agree, both CSX and Norfolk Southern's rail lines go straight thru downtown, so the infrastructure is there, plus I always found it weird that a city the size of Augusta didn't have Amtrak while Denmark, SC did...

[nortonguy]

Originally Posted by EastsideDave

Oh, while I'm thinking about it, isn't the Hyatt supposed to have it's own underground parking garage?

Correct..... The eight-story hotel will have an underground parking deck with 106 spaces.

[nortonguy]

This is a video of Washington road going to Downtown..... A small parking deck between 9th and 7th(4:00-4:22 in the video) in one of the old parking corridors. It wouldn't look out of the place in the middle of the street. Broad Street is like the 3rd widest urban street in america....


YouTube - GA-28 to Downtown Augusta, GA

[michelinn]

Do not build a parking deck on Broad, the new parking deck across the TEE center should help parking problems.

[lab4life]

Originally Posted by nortonguy

The lack of sidewalks and public transportation does have a impact on the amount of foot traffic.... If Augusta had Amtrak or a type of light/heavy rail and there was a stop downtown... There would be TONS of more people walking in the downtown area than presently....

I agree that Augusta desperately needs Amtrak. I really wish they would bring it here. This past year they have lowered their prices dramatically, and in a lot of cases it's way more affordable than flying. A downtown station would be viable, yet I never hear of progress in (key word VIABLE!) developmental plans like this.

I've had ties to Augusta for 14 years (a lot of family here). While I may be a newer resident, I'm no stranger to the issues long plaguing this city. The reality is Augusta does not have the money and ridership to support "a light rail to nowhere". Maybe in a few decades, but not anytime soon. Augusta Public Transit costs way more to operate than what it takes in from fares and advertising. Downtown couldn't even get parking meters in, what makes you think the public would fund light rail anytime soon? Pipedreams...

[nortonguy]

Originally Posted by lab4life

I agree that Augusta desperately needs Amtrak. I really wish they would bring it here. This past year they have lowered their prices dramatically, and in a lot of cases it's way more affordable than flying. A downtown station would be viable, yet I never hear of progress in (key word VIABLE!) developmental plans like this.

I've had ties to Augusta for 14 years (a lot of family here). While I may be a newer resident, I'm no stranger to the issues long plaguing this city. The reality is Augusta does not have the money and ridership to support "a light rail to nowhere". Maybe in a few decades, but not anytime soon. Augusta Public Transit costs way more to operate than what it takes in from fares and advertising. Downtown couldn't even get parking meters in, what makes you think the public would fund light rail anytime soon? Pipedreams...

I was speaking hypothetically in my previous post.... Nowhere did I mention funding or public citizens....

But since you bring up funding, the government will build light rail in Augusta sooner or later....
FRA Accepts Applications for State High-Speed Rail Planning « The Transport Politic

Speaking of public transportation, there is high possibility the modern street car system will have started construction before 2015.

[EastsideDave]

The state-wide passenger rail is technically heavy rail if I'm not mistaken. Kind of like SunRail in Florida, it'll use existing rail lines (like the ones already running through Augusta).

I do think that the CSRA could have a supplement to the statewide rail project. They could work up agreements with CSX and Norfolk Southern to allow them to use their rails, then larger transportation facilities (with bus transfer stations, rail stations, and long term commuter parking) could be built along the existing rail lines. For instance, there could be a station downtown that would serve as the hub of public transit for the CSRA, it could house the city's main bus terminal, and would serve as the Augusta stop of the statewide high-speed rail system, it could also connect to the trolley if that were ever built. Then there could be larger stations (like I mentioned above) for the local/regional rail system in south Richmond County, Evans/Martinez, and Aiken. Then you could have a few small rail stations between these places.

However, I don't think that we'll see anything of that magnitude in the CSRA in our lifetimes (not unless we suddenly start seeing growth rates like Charleston and Columbia (15-17% population increases over a 9 year period), if we saw growth like that in the metro, we'd see a population of well over 600K by 2020) but it's nice to dream. I think that even that GA state-wide rail system is decades away from becoming a reality.

I really think that right now we should focus our attention on attracting Amtrak service and looking seriously on that trolley.