The newly reconstructed parking lot at 12th Ave. and Third Street (behind the Royal Bank), has been open for a couple of weeks and, while it’s difficult to get excited about a parking lot, this one contains a few features that should attract the attention of motorists who are using it.
The parking lot, which had been a problem item for the local Business Improvement District (BID) committee that is charged with the duty of keeping the downtown core lots updated and usable, was completely excavated and redone in concrete.
The new lot, with freshly painted stalls and traffic directional arrows, features 36 regular parking stalls that are each 10 feet wide rather than the traditional eight foot by nine inch wide stalls.
“That should eliminate a lot of door denting, especially when we have a couple of larger vehicles parked side by side,” said Barry O’Handley, chairman of the BID committee.
The lot includes two more stalls, 12 feet in width at the back end of the parking lot, especially for the extra-large trucks such as dual-wheeled pickup work trucks that are frequent users of local roads and parking lots. The slots are also a bit longer than the typical parking stalls.
There are also two specially designated areas to park motorcycles. These two areas can accommodate up to 10 or 12 motorcycles, said O’Handley. Then there are the required two, 14 foot wide parking slots for the handicapped parking needs.
Fourteen stalls are being assigned to downtown business employees for reserved parking during the week. These stalls are provided at an annual fee of $120 said O’Handley.
Turnbull Excavating and Redi-Mix Division was awarded the contract for the job and came in on time and within the $195,000 budget, O’Handley said.
The old parking lot had become a real problem for BID ever since they took it over from the City of Estevan who had first formed the lot by digging a large hole and pushing the remains of a former business and church into the gaping hole. As the years went by, the paved lot kept developing deep pot holes, and, on occasion, sinkholes that required continual patching. BID members felt, this time around, a complete excavation and rebuild was necessary and to do it in concrete with rebar, would guarantee a longer-lasting product.
“It was 22 per cent more expensive than a freshly paved lot, but it’s also expected to last four times longer before replacement,” said O’Handley.
Besides this lot, BID retains responsibility for two other lots on Third Street, one behind Henders Drugs and another behind A&A Jewellery while another big lot is located on Fifth Street, behind House of Stationery, while another is found on Sixth Street, adjacent to the Access Communications parking lot.
Besides the 14 reserved spots in the newly built lot, BID has issued parking (reserved) passes for six stalls in the smaller lot behind Henders and 12 more behind the A & A Jewellery business and 18 on Fifth Street behind House of Stationery.
“We did a study on this particular parking lot,,” said O’Handley, referring to the newly redone site. “The turn around time is pretty quick, between 15 and 20 minutes on average. It’s close to the four banks, so a lot of people use it when they visit one of those, or for picking up something quick downtown.”
“The entrance and exit lines are clearly drawn on the pavement, so we’re hoping people will observe them so we won’t have any collisions at the entrance with some guy trying to exit. We have also placed some planters near the front so drivers won’t be tempted to try and squeeze in at the entrance and exit points. We’ll also put a city trash bin in a convenient spot. We tried to think of everything to make this a well-used and respected space.”
