On Street Parking Coming to Route 1

Stay alert the next time you find yourself driving through Hyattsville's Route 1 corridor, for if not, you may find yourself rear ending a parked car. 

After months of consideration, the Maryland State Highway Administration and the City of Hyattsville will begin offering metered off-peak hours parking on Route 1 between Madison Street and Hamilton Street. The parking changes will reduce the number of available lanes from four to two, one each way. 

There will be no parking on Route 1 between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays. 

The new on street parking will provide 61 extra parking spaces in downtown Hyattsville.

At last week's City Council meeting, Jim Chandler, Hyattsville's Director of Community and Economic Development, reviewed the tasks yet to be completed before on street parking can begin. 

The city still has to coordinate the installation of parking signs with the SHA, communicate the changes to the public, craft a memorandum of understanding with SHA for parking meter maintenance and installing the parking meters. 

"We're sort of limited in how far north we can go with parking," said Chandler. "Near Ogelthorpe, there's not a clear line of sight. And there are some similar challenges on some of the southbound areas."

The city has also contracted with Sabra-Wang Associates to rehabilitate four downtown parking lots located within a block of Route 1. The rehabilitated parking lots will add 121 parking lot spaces to the downtown parking stock. 

In all, downtown Hyattsville has space for 371 cars within one block of Route 1, according to city maps. 

The lots, located at Hamilton Street, Farragut Street, Jefferson Street, will be redeveloped on a rolling schedule over the summer and fall. Construction should start by the middle of June.