Courthouse traffic blamed for parking woes

A solution to years of parking problems in downtown Thibodaux – the area bordered by Jackson Street, West 6th Street, Canal Boulevard and East 1st Street – may soon be coming.

“Downtown parking has always been an issue,” said Ryan Perque, administrative assistant to Thibodaux Mayor Tommy Eschete. “It is a lack of both on- and off-street parking. Some of the government agencies have private off-street parking, but the problem is magnified when the courts are in session.”

In addition to municipal and parish-level government buildings, the area also has urban storefront type retail and other commercial-use buildings. Several of the downtown area’s streets are one-ways, and most public parking spots are parallel spaces along both sides of the roads.

At the Thibodaux City Council’s Nov. 20 meeting, all five council members approved the adoption of a resolution authorizing the mayor to sign a supplement to a retainer contract with Digital Engineering and Imaging of Baton Rouge to conduct a traffic engineering study.

“Digital Engineering will begin when they receive the ‘notice to proceed’ from the Department of Transportation and Development,” Perque said. “The engineers have not yet come up with an exact timeline (for the project). We will have a better idea of what exactly needs to be done after the study is complete.”

The state is covering 90 percent of the study’s $41,216 price tag, and the city of Thibodaux’s 10 percent, $4,122 match will be paid for through the city’s general fund. The study will look at current supplies and demands for parking, safety issues, how to keep the area viable for commercial and governmental use and how to restructure current parking to better meet the safety and traffic needs of the locale.

“We may look at diagonal parking as an option,” Perque said.

Several downtown businesses concurred with Perque’s assessment that finding a parking spot on a court day is a bit trickier than a non-court day.

“Parking has been a problem as long as I’ve worked here,” said Bridal Corner assistant manager Helen Benoit. “Court days are the worst; those are killer. It looks like they are giving away something for free on court days. People parking and running to get to court on time.”

The store, located at the corner of St. Louis and West Fourth streets, does not have its own parking lot and is two blocks from the courthouse.

“We open at 9 a.m., and you have to search for a parking spot every morning,” Benoit, who has worked at the store for 15 years, said. ‘You can park on the east side of the building sometimes, if you’re lucky.”

“We should leave earlier to get work, but we don’t,” Benoit said, laughing. “A lot of the office workers in the area get here at 8 a.m., but I’m not going to leave for work earlier just to get a closer parking spot.”

Both the bridal boutique and the hair salon just west of it have courtesy parking signs for their customers.

“We hear complaints from our customers a lot about there not being any place to park,” Benoit said. “We don’t enforce our sign. We just have it as a courtesy. People come here to pick up wedding dresses and bride’s maids dresses, and we don’t want them to have to carry all the dresses down the road.”

Even though the business does not enforce its notice, Benoit said the store does not get any trouble from non-customers.

“Some people park there and come in to tell us that are running to another business for few minutes,” she said. “That is OK. We just don’t want them parking there all day.”

Benoit questioned whether West Fourth Street would be able to accommodate diagonal parking.

“The street may be too narrow,” Benoit said. “There are two vacant lots south of us, but whoever owns them does not allow parking on them. Maybe they could build a parking garage on one of them, and residents and attorneys, people who are downtown all day, could pay by the week to park there. I would like to see a parking lot or garage.”

“A parking garage would be nice,” said Bridal Corner owner Liz Perque. “Court days are the worst for parking.”

Next door, Salon Atria owner Terry Boudreaux has no trouble finding a parking spot when he gets to work.

“I’m usually here early, before we open at 9 a.m.,” Boudreaux said. “Some of my employees who get here right before that have trouble finding a parking spot though.”

Like Bridal Corner, Boudreaux, who has been in business for two years, also hears parking complaints from his customers.

“I have no idea how they could fix it,” Boudreaux said. “There has been lots of talk over the years about making the vacant lot behind us a parking spot, but nothing has happened yet.”

Over on St. Phillip Street, Red Goose Salon owner Norman Toups said court days not only tie up street parking, but also tie up parking in his bar’s parking lot, which is located three blocks from the courthouse.

“I’ve got my own parking lot, but on court days, it gets taken over,” Toups said. “I had a sign up, but I took it down because people would still park here.”

Norman said he would like to see public parking lots opened as well as diagonal parking spots added to the downtown area’s streets.

“I think diagonal parking would work and allow for less obstructed views of traffic,” he said. “I also don’t see whey judges and court reporter have private parking. They are down here to work, just like everyone else.”

Red Goose Saloon bartender Trey Gaidry, who has also been a downtown Thibodaux bar hopper for more than three years, said parking at night is also a bit of a problem for those looking for a night on the town.

“Late at night, you have to park a few blocks away, but when we open up at 10 a.m., you can pretty much park wherever you want,” Gaidry said. “I parked two feet from the building today, but maybe they could build a parking garage.”