APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK ) – The Blue Ramp attached to the City Center Plaza in downtown Appleton is being torn down later this year.
The city said the ramp is old and needs to go down for safety reasons.
400 parking spaces here will be lost, and some people are worried about the long-term effects of not having available parking.
As the city of Appleton prepares to demolish the 55-year-old ramp, there are concerns at the Building for Kids Museum.
Jarrad Bittner, the executive director of the children’s museum, tells FOX 11….
“We found that our visitors have said in the survey that about 40% of our visitors will be coming less or not at all because of the construction that’s happening to the blue ramp.”
Bittner recommends families to park in the next nearest ramp, which is the red ramp. He said the problem, however, is children and families with strollers will have to cross a busy intersection.
“We understand families are concerned to walk further with kids,” said Chad Doran with the City of Appleton.
Doran tells FOX 11 if safety is a concern, families can park in the yellow ramp which connects to City Center.
“We got the yellow ramp which is less than a block away from where the blue ramp was, and the green ramp which is less than a block away.”
With the loss of hundreds of parking spaces, downtown visitors are also worried about street parking.
“Having the extra cars there too and finding spots, it’s going to make everything a lot tougher,” said Addisyn Kohlbeck, an Appleton resident.
Doran told FOX 11 there is enough parking available, even without the blue ramp.
“We don’t know what will replace the Blue Ramp yet. When it comes down, it’ll be seeded and be green space for time being and will be ready for development.”
He also said parking rates have gone up. Visitors will have to pay $2 if they’re parked inside a ramp for less than 3 hours. That’s compared to the original price of $1 for less than 2 hours.
Doran also said instead of $0.75/ hour for meter parking, now it’s $1.00/hour
Despite the cost uptick, visitors say it won’t stop them from coming back.
