For two years, shoppers and diners who park on Georgetown's M Street have gotten a free ride because of the massive utility renovation project in that part of town. But by next month or March, parking meters will be back -- with a new electronic receipt system.
One of the last steps in the refurbishing will be to install 53 new electronic parking meters on M Street to replace the meters that were ripped out during construction.
The city will install 53 new parking meters on M Street, where heavy nightly construction to replace outdated underground utility lines in Georgetown is finished. The meters will regulate more than 500 spaces.
(Jahi Chikwendiu -- The Washington Post)
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The meters will be positioned in the middle of blocks along M Street from 28th Street to the Key Bridge, said Karyn LeBlanc, a D.C. Department of Transportation spokeswoman. Drivers will have to feed the meters, which will then print a receipt that must be placed on dashboards.
The meters are expected to be installed next month or in early March, and officials plan to allow a one-month grace period once the new parking system is up and running, LeBlanc said. Each meter will monitor 10 parking spaces.
The machines are part of $7 million in streetscape renovations, which include replacing street lights, benches and sidewalks.
The nighttime jackhammering of Wisconsin Avenue pavement resumed Jan. 2, after a holiday hiatus. It is the final phase of the Georgetown utility project, a nearly four-year overhaul of water and gas pipes and electrical and communications wiring beneath the historic neighborhood.
Service work is now scheduled between Dumbarton Street and Reservoir Road on Wisconsin Avenue, officials said.
Officials said the entire $40 million infrastructure renovation remains on schedule to be completed by July. Utility work along M Street is finished, as is work by Washington Gas on a southern stretch of Wisconsin Avenue, said project manager Skip Newcombe.
He said streetscape improvements still must be undertaken, as well as the milling and asphalting of M Street.
"It probably won't be warm enough until late March or early April to start with streetscape," Newcombe said.
Since 2001, the utilities overhaul has kept crews working five nights a week, from 10 p.m. until the morning rush hour begins. Parking has been restricted, and traffic movement through Georgetown's two major thoroughfares and some side streets has been affected.
Vehicle traffic on Wisconsin Avenue will continue to be limited to one lane in construction zones. Keeping the road open, instead of closing it, has hindered construction work but prevented neighborhood side streets from becoming noisy detours.
"The queuing times have been less than five minutes," Newcombe said of traffic delays. "It's been amazing."
