The City began installing about 1,300 “smart” parking meters downtown on February 19. The new meters are solar-powered and programmable and will accept credit, debit and pre-paid parking cards and dollar coins in addition to dimes and quarters. The meter installation is expected to be completed by March 1.
The City maintains about 2,300 parking meters downtown. The new meters will be installed generally in the area bounded by 7th, 16th, “M” and “R” streets. New meters also will be installed in the Haymarket lot north of “O” street and on 14th and “W” streets on the UNL campus. Some of the meters will be multi-space meters.
Beginning Monday, March 11, the hourly rate at all downtown meters will increase from 50 cents to $1. “Our meter rates have not increased since 1995,” said Dave Landis, City Urban Development Director.
The programmable feature will allow the maximum parking time to be adjusted. For example, the meters can be adjusted to allow for nine hours of parking on a Husker home football game day.
For more information on downtown parking, call Parking Services at 402-441-PARK (7275) or visit parkandgo.org.