LA Parking Restrictions Apparently Just As Puzzling To LADOT Engineers

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Amid the discussion about using smartphone apps for parking in Los Angeles, engineers admitted they did not have a "comprehensive database" of which parking restrictions correspond with a particular street.

In order to create an app that would give motorists a way of looking up parking restrictions with their smartphones, the city would need to hire a contractor to go down each street to take pictures or record each sign's contents, Los Angeles Department of Transportation parking management engineer Ken Husting told the City Council's Transportation Committee.

That endeavor could cost the city an estimated $4.4 million to $5.6 million and take one to two years to complete, Husting told the panel.

To begin the process of creating that database of parking signs that could be used by app-makers or accessed by the public, the council's Transportation Committee recommended that $1.1 million in next fiscal year's budget be set aside. Funding for the program, dubbed "Code the Curb," would be taken out of the Special Parking Revenue Fund, which is generated through parking-related fines.

(©2016 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)