Be Aware! Major Changes Coming to Parking in Downtown Salem

Downtown parking utilization will be formally surveyed at least once per year and parking uses will be adjusted to meet ongoing needs of downtown businesses and customers.

Parking changes in downtown Salem take effect Feb. 1st. Photo: Tim King

(SALEM) - The City of Salem wants you to Be Aware! that beginning February 1st, most on-street parking spaces in downtown Salem will have a two-hour time limit.

Spaces with a 30-minute time limit are available near most intersections.

Parking for longer stays will still be available in the city's three downtown parking structures.

Thirty-minute and two-hour parking on-street and unlimited parking in the structures will continue to be free for downtown customers, visitors, and shoppers.

Changes are being made based on results of a downtown parking study initiated by City Council last spring and seven months of planning with significant involvement of downtown businesses, customers, and advisory groups.

The goal is to improve access to parking downtown, giving customers the highest priority for on-street parking.

Study results showed that cars stay in parking spaces downtown for an average of one hour and twenty-five minutes.

The study also showed that Salem's unusually high number of thirty-minute spaces yielded 67 percent of parking infractions, suggesting that most parkers forced to park in those spaces really needed more time.

In addition, Salem's downtown parking structures were underutilized.

The results indicated that customer and visitor access to parking would be improved by establishing time limits to match the need, converting most of the thirty-minute spaces to allow two-hour parking stays and encouraging use of the parking structures for longer visits to downtown.

The changes go into effect on February 1st.

Parking will remain free on-street and in the parking structures.

Long-term parking tasks within the City will be consolidated into a Parking Services Division to improve effectiveness and management, using guiding principles such as improving access, making access user-friendly, and improving quality and safety of the parking supply.

During the summer in 2007, the parking structures will undergo repairs and a facelift in the form of new painting and directional signs to improve access to the facilities.