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MARIGOT--The Collectivité’s Technical Services will begin installing infrastructure and informative signs to indicate Blue Zone parking areas in downtown Marigot as of this Thursday, September 24.
This first phase requires a month-and-a-half of work, the Collectivité noted in a release. Commissioning of the Blue Zone is scheduled for mid-November, just before the start of the new tourist season.
The creation of a Blue Zone was initiated by President Aline Hanson’s majority party in the context of the revitalization of Marigot’s town centre. The project was unanimously approved by the Executive Council on May 5, 2015. The new territorial regulations take effect mid-November, and will involve approximately 450 parking spaces.
A Blue Zone aims to regulate parking in the downtown area by limiting parking time through use of a timing disc, thereby creating a continuous rotation of vehicles needing to park. The initiative was introduced thanks to the number of cars that are parked in one spot for the entire day, limiting available spaces and deterring tourists and other visitors from coming into town.
Streets that will be in the restricted Blue Zone are Boulevard de France up to Rue des Pêcheurs, Rue de la République, Rue de la Liberté, Rue Général de Gaulle, Rue St. James, Rue President Kennedy, Rue Victor Maurasse, and spaces surrounding Hotel de la Collectivité.
In the zones indicated, a driver leaving a parked vehicle will be required to use a parking disc. This disc must be clearly visible to traffic wardens and placed on the dashboard of the vehicle inside the windscreen at the front of the parked vehicle.
The disc should be set to show the time of arrival and the time limit for the space. It can then be removed once the vehicle departs from the parking. The maximum duration for parking in the Blue zone is set at 1-and-a-half hour between 8:00am and 6:00pm daily, except Sundays and public holidays.
One parking disc per family will be given free of charge by the Collectivité. Additional discs will be available for one euro each. Discs have been ordered and should arrive in the territory in early November.
The Blue Zone will be specified by signs at the entry of zones and streets. A shuttle service rotating between downtown Galis Bay and from the Tourism Office car park on the other side will be introduced by the Collectivité at the same time as implementation of the Blue Zone.
