In the future, people using the New York Street parking lots might have to walk under the Fifth Street bridge instead of using the crosswalk to get to and from events at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.

That option was one of the possibilities discussed Thursday by a committee reviewing parking and pedestrian traffic patterns around the civic center.

Mayor Alan Hanks formed the committee in September after the planning commission raised questions about long-range parking planning during discussion of building additional parking along New York Street between The Journey Museum and Fifth Street.

Committee member Lt. James Johns of the Rapid City Police Department said having pedestrians walk beneath Fifth Street instead of over it would reduce the chance of a pedestrian being injured by a vehicle exiting the civic center following an event.

"It's completely safe, completely natural. It's just going to be can we train the public to walk an extra 200 yards required to use the crossing underneath the bridge," Johns said.

Johns understands most people aren't going to want to walk the extra distance, but the goal is to come up with a solution that keeps people safe while moving vehicles out of the parking lots. He said the area under the bridge could be cleaned up, lighting increased and maybe a diagonal sidewalk built to make it more palatable to the public.

Some of the potential improvements discussed for the west side of the civic center included building a tunnel or an overpass, closing the Eighth street access to CHS after events and forcing traffic onto North street, and installing flashing pedestrian signals or embedding strobes in the crosswalk.

Another idea is to use cones, signs and barricades after large events to force traffic leaving either lot to make right turns only onto Eighth street, and to force cars leaving via the southernmost civic center entrance to only make left turns south onto Eighth Street.

No decisions were made on Thursday. The parking committee is discussing a variety of parking-related issues, everything from whether enough parking exists to the adequacy of pedestrian crossings at Fifth Street and Eighth Street following events.

"We're here to discuss parking, but really it's pedestrian movement that causes a good portion of the parking problem. It's that mad dash across Eighth Street that causes the lack of egress we have," said committee member Dave Davis.

When the new Fifth and New York lot is completed, the civic center will have a total of 4,132 parking spaces available for civic center events in lots at Central High School, the civic center, New York Street and the Journey Museum.

Paid parking in some form also is being considered. Committee member John Herr, who is also a member of the civic center board, talked to skybox lease holders and hockey season ticket holders about their interest in paying some fee in order to park closest to the new facility. Based on their responses, Herr said there appears to be a demand for it.

Davis said paid reserved parking shouldn't necessarily be limited to just hockey goers. He said there may be an interest from people who go to other events, like the Broadway Series, to pay for the privilege of parking close to the doors.

The committee didn't discuss the idea long, and there was a suggestion that discussion of paid or valet parking should go to the civic center board, not the parking committee.

Committee chairman Tom Hennies said it may take a couple more meetings before recommendations are ready to be sent to the city council. The committee's next meeting is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Dec. 2.

Contact Scott Aust at 394-8415, or scott.aust@rapidcityjournal.com