Parking Situation Brightens on Main Street: Lot B to Open, Lot D Now Free

The parking situation on Ellicott City's Main Street should be a little easier soon. The county announced Wednesday that Lot B, near the Main Street bridge, will reopen this month and that the paid spaces in Lot D, behind the tourism center, will be converted back to free spaces.

Lot D is the largest lot on Main Street with 234 spaces, but 58 of them were metered. On Wednesday, the county announced they're going to remove the 58 metered spaces, effective immediately.


The change makes over 70 percent of the 594 spaces in the Historic District free, according to county statistics.

In addition, Lot B, which was damaged when the CSX train derailed in August 2012 will re-open on Saturday. The lot has a total of 23 spaces. Improvements to the lot include a repaired retaining wall and pervious parking spaces near the Patapsco River. The repairs for the wall were paid for by CSX, while the county paid for the parking lot work. The county did not immediately have the cost of the repairs on Wednesday.

County Executive Ken Ulman said the county reviewed data recorded from sensors installed with the new parking system on Main Street before making the decision to make Lot D free.

"We always said the technology would allow us to make adjustments based on what the data showed," said Ulman, in a statement. "We now know there is increased turnover on Main Street, drawing customers and helping businesses, and we can make this change and visiting Ellicott City easier."

Main Street merchants said in June, about five months after the new meters were turned on, that some visitors were confused by the system, but that they noticed many more prime spots open directly on Main Street.

"The objective [of the parking program] was to make sure there was healthy turnover of prime spots to ensure customer flow," said Mark Miller, director of public information for the county. "The data from sensors shows that's happening and it seems to be having a positive effect on businesses there."

"I am thrilled about the change," said Carolyn Gaughan, owner of Classic Interiors, a business adjacent to Lot D, in a statement. "I think this will be very good for businesses in Ellicott City."

Ulman also announced additional improvements to the parking system that include new instructional signs, the relocation of meters from Lot D to Main Street and other signage improvements.

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