Parking Problems Plague Commuters
By: Uriah A. Kiser
The Stafford County Sun
Overcrowded commuter parking lots received the attention of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors last week, as Garrisonville Supervisor Mark Dudenhefer received special permission from the board to hold a special public parking summit.
“Everyone who has a stake in transportation will be invited,” said Dudenhefer.
At the Garrisonville Road commuter lot, if commuters are not parked before 7 a.m., it is less likely they will find a parking space, according to Stafford resident and commuter, Sharon Printz.
One all the spaces are taken in the Garrisonville Road lot, motorists begin parking their cars illegally in areas around the lot designated as “no parking” zones, according to Printz.
The cause for the overcrowding is due to the popularity of slugs – commuters who park their own cars and ride in cars carrying groups of three or more, for free – to take advantage of Interstate 95’s High Occupancy Vehicles lanes.
County supervisors are looking into ways to alleviate the crowding problem, according to Supervisor Paul Milde, R-Aquia.
Milde is in favor of using public money already set aside for transportation, to rent space for commuters in the nearby Stafford Marketplace shopping center.
That idea has been met with a lot of opposition from the people who own the shopping center, Milde said.
“They agreed to take a second look at slowing us to use the spaces, but then they said they cannot work with us,” said Milde. “We’re getting the run-around.”
Supervisor Joe Brito, I-Hartwood, suggested at last week’s board meeting that carpoolers use the parking lots at Stafford County Public Parks to alleviate overcrowding at traditional commuter parking lots.
“This would be a way to catch people who are driving by parks toward the Interstate in the morning, and would primarily be used by people who are carpooling,” said Brito.
“It we pull our resources together my plan will work,” said Brito, because it is more cost effective, and would immediately address the overcrowding situation by using “parking space that are already available.”
Brito plans to take his proposal to the park commission, hoping to have a pilot program in place by late spring.
According to John Numalley, a Stafford resident who slugs to Washington, D.C. Money through Friday, Brito’s plan “wouldn’t work.”
“That’s decentralizing everything,” said Mumalley. “It order for slugging to work, you have to be close to the highway and get in line as early as possible to get a ride into town. That would be unacceptable for me.”
Dudenhefer will hold the summit Feb. 14 at the Stafford County Administration Center, noting that he will go as far as to print flyers on his home computer, and put them on cars in the commuter lots to incite public participation.
The county has also looked into leasing spaces that would be designated as commuter parking at the Brafferton Square shopping center on Garrisonville Road, and at Aquia Towne Center shopping center, according to Milde. Aquia Towne Center is in the process of being revamped.