Split drivers, we have some good news for your hump day.
While I am not a driver in Split, I was once a driver in California – and especially in San Francisco where finding parking is like finding a needle in a haystack. I can’t tell you how many hours of my life I spent wasting away on the streets of San Francisco at midnight, hoping for someone, anyone to move so I could wiggle my way into a spot for the night – and I didn’t even care if I had to move my car at 6 am for street cleaning, or had to parallel park on a 45 degree level hill. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and when it comes to finding a parking spot, anything goes.
One of the most common concerns I hear about Split is the lack of parking – and while Uber has saved the day for many drivers, many of them still need the comfort of their car for various reasons, making finding a parking spot key. Fortunately, the drivers of Split have been handed some good news today, and it comes in the form of over 1,000 new parking spaces planned for this year.
The Split-based utility company ‘Split Parking’ plans to invest HRK 51.3 million in 2018 to improve the state of traffic in the city. According to the plan, most funds will be invested in the construction of six new garages that will go by stages and their total estimated value at completion of construction will be HRK 35 million. The parking garages will be built at the following locations: Gripe, ex. Ravel, two at Mertojak – at Odeska Street, Dobrilina Street, and Trstenik. The expected number of new parking spaces for citizens in these garages will be around 1,200, reports Dalmacija Danas on January 3, 2018.
The new garages will not be built in places where they would be commercially worthwhile, but their sole purpose is to provide an additional number of parking places for the citizens or tenants of some districts where the parking problem is most pronounced. The construction of six new garages was made possible after the City of Split handed over Split’s parking permit to construction and construction supervision at a session in December. It should be noted that the City of Split, as the project leader, has already started construction of three more garages, those at Visoka Street – Vrazova Street, Sućidar and Mertojak – on Ostravska Street.
Marko Bartulić, Director of Split Parking, expressed satisfaction with the planned investments and the fact that he is finally able to repair one of the burning problems in Split. Bartulić is aware that the parking problem is a sensitive issue and a problem for citizens in all parts of the city. Bartulić adds that it is necessary to systematically address the issue in cooperation with citizens.
“After many years, we finally want to solve the issue of Split-based traffic in which we note the continuous growth in demand for parking places. This is only the first step, and the construction of new garages will not completely solve the problem of parking in Split, so the company is working on establishing a complete system that will ultimately make it easier for citizens to find a parking space. Part of that system is smart city solutions such as the smart parking and smart parking applications we implemented in 2017, and there will be more of such projects in 2018,” adds Bartulić.
Bartulić also noted that they expect to resolve all property and legal relations as one of the prerequisites for the construction at the new garages and that there are still many parts of the city where the problem of parking is expressed. Intensive work is being done to check an additional 80 locations. These locations will be ranked according to their category of construction options, depending on the location that is suitable for construction.
In addition to the new garages, the announced investments for 2018 include the renovation and arrangement of existing garages in which HRK 8.7 million will be invested, which will, upon completion of the renovation, achieve all the prescribed standards. The money will also be invested in the purchase of a new video surveillance and access control system for garages, modification of LED lighting, the purchasing of parking automats and the installation of sensors for new parking lots, asphalting some outside parking lots, three electric car chargers and other smaller investments.
Excerpts taken Dalmacija Danas
