Downtown group proposes more parking on Riverside Drive
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Downtown Neighborhood Association of Memphis has proposed a new plan to increase parking at Tom Lee Park.
Tom Lee Park has been a popular destination for Memphis residents since its $62 million renovation and grand opening last August.
However, there appears to be one common critique from park goers.
“I’m trying to come here and I have nowhere to park and it’s very frustrating,” Memphis resident Treashon Clark said.
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Since the park’s renovations, there are only 67 parking spaces along Riverside Drive, compared to the nearly 200 that used to be available. On busy days, many have resorted to illegal parking along Riverside, leading police to issue dozens of tickets.
As the weather gets warmer, more Memphians are expected to visit the park, which will make its limited parking more of a concern.
In an effort to get out in front of it the Downtown Neighborhood Association of Memphis has proposed a plan to create more spaces.
“Seventy percent of the neighborhood —stakeholders, businesses, and residents—said they would support a two-lane Riverside Drive from Beale Street to Georgia, as long as it incorporated more parking,” Downtown Neighborhood Association of Memphis’ President, Jerred Price, said.
According to their proposal, Riverside would be restriped, which would turn the four lanes of traffic into just two.
Instead of the parallel parking that is currently there, it would be angled.
“If you take one parallel spot and you put two 45s in that same positioning, that means it’s at least double if not triple the amount, because parking would go all the way down almost to the pedestrian bridge at South Bluffs,” Price said.
When WREG spoke with park goers on their thoughts on the proposal, it seemed like they were split on their opinion.
“I think that would be very helpful and should be put into motion. That would be very helpful,” one resident said.
Another resident questioned the effect it would have on streets’ traffic flow, saying, “I’m not crazy about the idea of there being less room to drive on, but maybe another option?”
Despite the back and forth, Price said the top priority of the proposal is to make parking accessible for everyone.
“We just want this to be an accessible park for all families because downtown is everybody’s neighborhood,” Price said. “People come from Whitehaven, Orange Mound, Frayser, and they come to Tom Lee Park. Some families can’t afford to pay $5 or $10 for parking, so we need to make sure there’s plenty of free parking.”
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WREG reached out to Memphis River Parks for comment and they say this proposal raises more question than answers.
They reiterated that parking on Riverside Drive is the responsibility of the city and not the Memphis Rivers Parks Partnership.
They also added that it was part of their original plan for Tom Lee Park to make Riverside Drive two lanes, though in a different way than Downtown Neighborhood Association proposed. Their proposal was not approved.
Meanwhile, the Downtown Neighborhood Association took the proposal to the engineering board and they say the next step will be to take it to the city to review.
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