The City of New Orleans, Department of Public Works (DPW), in collaboration with the Downtown Development District (DDD) has evaluated existing curb uses and demands in the Central Business District (CBD).
The study found that there is high demand for more parking on some blocks and high numbers of violations on other blocks, especially cars parked illegally in passenger and freight zones. In order to be more responsive to a wide array of stakeholders, the City will begin implementing a number of changes to help improve curb use in the downtown area.
The final study recommends:
- Increasing enforcement of the loading zones within the CBD;
- Modifying loading zone signs to indicate maximum time limits per City ordinance;
- Introducing freight/metered parking combination stalls;
- Changing the regulation of specific stalls to better accommodate current and future demands;
- Eliminating all no-limit/ free on-street parking;
- Allowing requests for non-parking curb uses and bike parking corrals.
While some of the study recommendations will take more time to implement, DPW plans to begin replacing all of the downtown area loading and passenger zone signage immediately. Full implementation will take approximately six months. The new signs include the authorized times vehicles may be parked in one space, for example, loading zones are 10 minutes and freight zones are 45 minutes. Increased enforcement will follow sign installation.
View the final version of the CBD Curb Use Study here. Become familiar with the most common parking violations here.