Rehoboth parking study a waste of money

Since I have lived here full time the last 12 years, I’m keenly aware of the parking/traffic issues that plague Rehoboth. So, the article “Rehoboth studying parking, traffic this summer” caught my attention. 

I came away both perplexed and frustrated at our city’s mayor and commissioners. Why do we need yet another study on both of these issues, especially at a cost of $150,000 that could escalate to $200,000? Seems like a colossal waste of taxpayer money. 

There are really only three ways into the city: directly off Coastal Highway onto Rehoboth Avenue across the drawbridge; via State Road; and via Silver Lake bridge on Bayard Avenue. All these routes essentially drop one onto Rehoboth Avenue. Unfortunately, the same options exist when one leaves. Since the vast majority of the traffic comes from the north and wishes to return that way, this creates a mass bottleneck on Rehoboth Avenue and those streets that feed onto it. The volume coupled with the traffic lights at Church Street and on Coastal Highway back everything up. We have all seen this happen on a summer day when everyone leaves the beach. I’m puzzled at what another study is going to tell us. The obvious solutions seem to be: build an additional access point to/from the north to provide options or perhaps a free bus system that could bring folks from many hotels into the city as well as provide access around the city to Gordons Pond to leave cars out of the city.  

Now let’s move on to parking. This study will likely state the city has ample parking. Technically, that is probably true. However, these studies seem to leave out one important fact: We live in a lazy society. Visitors don’t want to park on Norfolk or Stockley streets with a permit, then walk to Rehoboth Avenue. They want to park on Rehoboth Avenue or an adjacent street so they are within a reasonable stroll of the shops, beach and Boardwalk. So, to fulfill this desire, they continue to circle the two to three blocks of Rehoboth Avenue and adjacent streets looking for an open space, contributing to the traffic issue noted above. So, while studies may state we have ample parking, it isn’t in the right place. How do we fix that? Well, you can’t move the open spaces from the neighborhoods to downtown, but you could build more parking. Now, there are no empty lots in the desired area begging to be paved over and turned into parking, except the three lots next to the Ark. With no real empty land, you need to build up. Yes, the idea of a parking garage. Of course, the city has looked at this before and rejected it. 

The bottom line here is that there is no magic solution this study is going to bestow on the city. The solutions are known; the mayor and commissioners are just in denial. They would rather spend taxpayer money on another study than actually work on real solutions.