Troy

A fast-paced $60,000 study of downtown parking and traffic flow will be conducted as the city deals with the commercial area's increasing attractiveness to visitors, businesses and residents.

"The goal for this particular study is to take a hard look at the parking situation," Bill Dunne, the commissioner of Planning and Economic Development, said Friday.

The city has found that as it sees increased investment downtown in new apartments and businesses, there is increased pressure on the availability of parking.

Fisher Associates of Buffalo will perform the study. It will be jointly funded by the Troy Local Development Corp. and Kirchhoff Properties, developer of the $25 million mixed-use project at 1 Monument Square. Kirchhoof will contribute $25,000, while TLDC will pay $30,000 to $35,000.

The review, with its recommendations, is expected to be completed by mid-May, said Dunne, who is a TLDC board member.

Coming under scrutiny are the city's parking meters and their locations; the parking lots and garages; parking enforcement; on-street parking spaces and traffic patterns.

Dunne and Deputy Mayor Peter Ryan, also a TLDC board member, said the study will consider changing the traffic patterns on River Street between First and Congress streets.

Traffic currently travels in a one-way direction south. A proposal is to have traffic flow one-way south on River Street from First Street to State Street. The block of River Street from Congress Street to State Street would become one-way north. Traffic from both north and south would turn east on State Street.

The study also will review installing diagonal parking as a way to create additional spaces. Dunne said Kirchhoff has raised the possibility of turning a portion of the large plaza area in front of 1 Monument Square into additional on-street parking. Such an idea would be considered in the study, he said.

While local businessman Vic Christopher has suggested closing Broadway between Second and River streets at Monument Square to create a pedestrian friendly block, this is not part of the study.

Marla Ortega, the chef-owner of the Ilium Cafe on the block, noted that her business could benefit from additional pedestrian traffic, but questioned the impact on other businesses if the 12 parking spaces on the block were lost.

kcrowe@timesunion.com • 518-454-5084 • @KennethCrowe