The conductor of a new parking study discussed the option of making traffic one way around the downtown square. John Huss, from OWN, Inc., the engineering firm that performed the analysis, spoke with the Fayette city council on Tuesday, October 10.

The study was made at the behest of the board of the Historic Downtown Fayette Commercial Community Improvement District (CID). The CID also funded the study.

Huss suggested making traffic one way from north to south on Main Street and east to west on portions of Davis and Morrison streets along the courthouse square. The reason is to open the angles of the parking spots to include more, which would cut into the narrow roads downtown.

“We were tasked with taking a look to see if there’s a way we could increase the number of parking stalls in the downtown area,” Huss told the council. “What we attempted to do initially was maintaining the two-way streets and go with the diagonal parking that was more efficient than the 45 (degree angle).”

Going from 45-degree spaces to 60-degree spaces, he said, will add nearly 100 spaces in the downtown area.

In September 2019, the city changed the parking spaces to allow traffic to pass through the narrow streets more easily. That change increased driving lanes by around 10 feet but reduced the number of parking spaces around the square by 41%, from 217 to 127, as counted by this newspaper. The old lines were also painted over in black. New yellow lines marked the new spaces, which some find confusing.

“To be able to increase the parking and get to the 60-degree stalls, you really have to go to some one-way streets,” Huss said.

He chose to make Main Street one way, with traffic heading south rather than traffic heading north, to allow for right-hand turns for cars maneuvering around the square. 

“If you’re making a left-hand turn, then you are basically crossing an opposing traffic lane,” Huss explained. “So, there’s a very little increase in conflict there from a traffic standpoint.”

Huss also said the decision to go with southbound traffic was for ease of drivers to get to City Hall on South Main Street.

Some streets could have 60-degree angled parking on one side and parallel parking on the other due to the narrowness of the streets, he said. 

Huss also suggested that traffic stalls be increased from nine to 10 feet in width. The difference would be about 15 fewer parking spaces in total. In addition, parking spaces on the inside corners will go away, and additional handicapped parking will be included in the new plan.

Danny Dougherty, the city’s public works director, said the chief complaint he heard when downtown had 60-degree angled parking was that the spaces were too narrow, especially for large vehicles, which are prevalent in Fayette. He said 10-feet wide spaces would be more acceptable.

“The nine-foot is a little bit narrow if you’re talking about a three-quarter-ton pickup,” Huss agreed.

Because the downtown area now has two sets of parking stripes, black and yellow, the road will have to be repaved or overlayed before more stripes can be painted. The city plans to overlay the area in the spring when the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) is scheduled to overlay Highway 240. Huss advised the city to also mill down the existing streets before overlaying because otherwise, there won’t be enough gutter space left to handle stormwater. 

“The condition of your roadways is not such that you really need to be overlaying for the structure of the roads. So, the question is, how do we obliterate the stripes so you don’t have black showing up when it hits headlights; and the new stripes.” 

He suggested using the cold tar seal over the strips that will need to be restriped.

Dougherty said estimates he’s received for a cold tar seal suggest you won’t last more than a year.

Council members appeared agreeable to the new traffic and parking scheme. City Marshal David Ford was also in favor of the pattern change.

 East Ward Alderwoman Ronda Gerlt asked if parade routes would also be required to follow the one-way traffic pattern. “We have parades sometimes. So, if the traffic is going the way you’re showing it now, typically, the parades go the other way.”

Huss explained that parades don’t have to follow one-way traffic directions.

OWN, Inc. will continue to refine the traffic plan as questions and concerns arise.

The city council meets regularly at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of every month in City Hall. Meetings are open, agendas are published in advance, and the public is invited.