It’s official, a block of roadside parking on East Shannon Road is to be restricted. Sulphur Springs City Council Tuesday night unanimously approved Ordinance No. 2794, which establishes a no parking zone on East Shannon Road (the south Interstate 30 service road) between South Broadway Street and Mockingbird Lane.
The proposal for the ordinance was presented on first reading by Sulphur Springs Police Chief Jason Ricketson at the regular November City Council meeting, for safety of motorists exiting restaurant driveways onto East Shannon Road. Vehicles parked between driveways often obscures or at the very least reduces road visibility, which can be dangerous as motorists have to dart out without being able to see if there’s a danger from oncoming traffic in order to leave the business drives. It also makes it hard for eastbound travelers on Shannon Road to see the vehicles leaving the drive until they are already in the road. This has resulted in a few traffic crashes and many near misses.
Ordinance No. 2794, approved on second and final reading Tuesday night, prohibits parking on the south side of East Shannon Road between South Broadway Street and Mockingbird Lane. While no parking will be allowed on the side of Shannon that meets the restaurants, the ordinance does not restrict parking on the north side of the road.
That means parking will still be allowed on the side of East Shannon closest to I-30. So truck drivers and motorists driving large vehicles or pulling trailers would still be allowed to park across the street from a restaurant (on the north side of the road), as they often do, and walk across the south service road into the restaurants.
The ordinance also does not apply to people in drive-thru lines that stretch out a restaurant driveway into the street. Vehicles in line, moving a car’s-length each time a car or truck exits the drive-thru and parking lot, even if the line is backed up along the left lane or side of East Shannon Road, would be exempt from the policy. The ordinance only prohibits vehicles from being parked and left on the south side of East Shannon Road for a period of time.
At the November City Council meeting, Ricketson noted that the measure will be forwarded to Texas Department of Transportation, who would be required to erect no parking signs in the area. The City of Sulphur Springs would be required to pay for the signs.
The policy become effective immediately and will be enforceable as a Class C misdemeanor offense, punishable upon conviction with a fine of up to $500, as soon as TxDOT puts the signs up along East Shannon Road.
