The long rows of parking meters along Adams Morgan’s busiest avenues have been supplanted by newer technology. The District Department of Transportation recently replaced 168 single-space parking meters on 18th Street and Columbia Road with 21 solar-powered, easier-to-manage multi-space meters.
The $8,000 meters automatically detect when service is needed and call in reports by computer. The machines don’t jam or run out of battery power. They consume less sidewalk space and create one or two additional parking spaces per block by not sectioning off a certain amount of space per meter.
“We feel like they’re easier to use,” said Erik Linden, DDOT spokesman. “They give drivers more options.”
Adams Morgan is the second District location to receive the new meters. Georgetown was the first, as part of a pilot project. The meters work like this: After parallel parking, drivers walk to the meter and select the amount of time they wish to stay. After paying with either cash, coin or a credit card, the machine prints a receipt that must be displayed on the vehicle’s dashboard.
In a neighborhood where parking is always a hot-button issue, the new meters should improve the quality of life for residents and visitors, said Josh Gibson, executive director of the Adams Morgan Business Improvement District. For example, he said, multi-space technology provides wider sidewalks, quelling a long-held complaint of narrow walkways.
“The way it is now, that first yard of the sidewalk has the [single-space] meters every X number of feet, which means it’s not effective for pedestrians,” Gibson said. “But now you sort of won back that first yard of the sidewalk for pedestrian use.”
DDOT isn’t done installing the new meters. The next stop, Linden said, is K Street between 12th and 21st streets, which should come later in the year.
