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The City of Asbury Park announced its new back-in pilot program along Eighth Avenue Thursday.

According to a written news release, the city striped back-in angled parking on the south side of Eighth Avenue between Webb Street and Kingsley Street.

Officials said the new parking configuration is cited by transportation engineers as being safer, particularly for cyclists and pedestrians.

“We are always looking for ways to increase parking supply where it’s needed, increase safety and try something different in order to achieve both of those goals,” Mayor John Moor said.  

The parallel parking request came from nearby residents, officials said. Through the conversion, five parking spaces were gained

This marks the first instance of back-in angle parking spaces in Asbury Park, according to the release. It follows similar parking initiatives implemented in Red Bank, Sea Bright and Hoboken, and cities across the nation. 

“There are a number of benefits to back-in angle parking,” Transportation Manager Mike Manzella said.  “For the driver, pulling out of a space allows for better visibility of oncoming traffic. Cyclists are more visible to drivers pulling out of the back-in angle spaces when compared to parallel or head-in angle spaces. Loading and unloading become safer since all car doors (including the trunk) now open to the sidewalk instead of towards the street with head-in angle parking. The backing maneuver may be unfamiliar at first, but similar configurations in other municipalities have quickly found praise once drivers are used to it.”

The operation of backing into a reverse angle space is as follows:

Signal: Use turn signal to indicate an intention to enter a parking space.

Stop: Pull ahead of the intended space and then stop to make sure traffic stops behind you.

Reverse: Reverse into the parking space.

“New parking configurations do take some getting used to,” said City Manager Michael Capabianco. “The City will be evaluating the operation of the new configuration over the coming months to make sure the transition is smooth. If it is found favorable, we will consider converting other parking spaces to back-in angle as we move forward with road improvement projects.”

[Photo courtesy of the city]

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