Traffic committee doesn’t like one-way Main Street

The 100 block of West Main Street in downtown Port Washington could become a two-way street again if the city’s Traffic Safety Committee has its way.

Committee members recently recommended that the street, which is one-way in front of the Ozaukee County Administration Center, be opened to two-way traffic, even though that may mean losing as many as seven parking spots in a downtown where parking, especially during the summer tourist season, is often limited.

But committee members noted that it’s difficult for motorists to use those parking spots because Main Street is one-way heading east. Most drivers looking for parking are on Wisconsin Street and would need to turn west onto Main Street to access the spots, they said.

Making the street two-way will also make it easier for drivers to access the county parking lot across from the Administration Center on Main Street, which is often largely empty on busy summer weekends, Ald. Deb Postl, the committee chairman, said.

“It’ll actually make parking easier,” Postl said. “It provides easier access.”

City Engineer Roger Strohm, a member of the committee, said the city conducted a two-week parking study around the Administration Center in June and found that only about half the parking spaces were occupied.

A recent downtown parking review showed that parking in front of the Administration Center and in the county lot is “underutilized, even when downtown parking is over capacity” during the busy Saturday farmers market, Strohm said in a memo to the committee.

The exception was on days when the County Board meets. Then West Main Street parking is filled, according to the memo.

Strohm noted in his memo that if the county-owned parking lot on the north side of Grand Avenue was developed, it would lose 45 parking stalls — but even if these vehicles parked on West Main Street or in the parking lot there, about 50 stalls, or 25% of the available parking, would remain open.   

The 100 block of East Main Street was two-way until 2010, when former Ozaukee County Administrator Tom Meaux asked that it be changed to allow for more parking for county visitors.

At that point, he noted the county and neighboring property owner Patrick Poole were locked in a dispute over a parking lot Poole rented to the county. The lease ultimately wasn’t renewed, so the county was seeking to increase parking in the area.

Postl asked how county officials feel about the potential change, and Strohm noted he had not discussed it with them recently.

In the past, officials said, the county’s biggest concern was any loss of parking.

“They do have a big parking lot,” Police Chief Kevin Hingiss, a member of the committee, said.

If the street once again becomes a two-way road, committee members noted, the parking would remain a mix of angle and parallel parking — “Just like the rest of Main Street,” Ald. John Sigwart, a member of the committee, said.