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The Oslo municipality uses the same requirements for street parking differently on equal streets, a verification that Nettavisen has conducted shows. Some streets are prohibited from parking, others have parking for residents.
In the Nordre Aker district in Oslo, resident parking has been introduced, the aim of which is to guarantee parking for residents. But at the same time the scheme was introduced, many have been banned from parking on their own streets.
The explanation from the Urban Environment Agency, which implements the scheme, is that the streets are too narrow. They point out that roads must be at least 5.5 meters wide for parking to be allowed. But a check that Nettavisen has carried out shows that the agency in several streets does not follow its own rules.
– Must guarantee accessibility
When Nettavisen asked why this is different now than in all the years residents have parked on these streets, the agency responded that safety and accessibility are not good enough if parking is allowed on a narrower road.
According to the agency, there must be 3.5 m of free width, because this is the requirement of the fire department, and then the road must have room for a car, which the agency calculates to be 2 meters wide.
– The road must also be passable in winter, so less than 5.5 meters will not be compatible with regulated parking for cars and at the same time ensure safety and accessibility, writes project manager Marianne Solhaug Mølmen in an email to Nettavisen.
Also read: Gave residents a huge bill – then parking spaces were removed: – This is not how we should continue in this city
Law here, prohibited here
According to the project manager, the same requirement applies to the entire city. But it turns out that the requirement is not followed everywhere.
Where some streets have been banned from parking, others have been given resident parking, even though the streets are as wide and narrow as the municipality’s requirement. It is clear from several measurements that Nettavisen has made:
- In Bergslia, a street that runs east from Ullevål metro station, a parking ban has been introduced in various sections. The width of the street is approximately 500 cm. Løvåsveien and Gjennomfaret are two other nearby streets with similar road widths that have now been totally or partially prohibited for parking.
- A stone’s throw inwards, in Ullevål Hageby, we find Tyrihansveien. Here we measure the width at 503 cm. Here there are parking spaces for residents on the side of the road. Nearby is Moltke Moesvei, with a road width of about 485 cm. This street also has parking spaces for residents.
NARROW WIDTH: In Konsvingergata, in Sagene, there are 3 meters between the parking spaces for residents in both directions, half a meter less than the width requirement of the municipality. Here, the Urban Environment Agency has also installed electric car chargers.
Photo: Morten Solli
- In Marienlyst, between NRK and Majorstua, we find the Harald Hårfagres gate. There are parking spaces for residents here even though the width of the road is about 485 cm, and it is also at the Armauer Hansens gate in Lindern, where the width of the road is about 500 cm.
- At Kongsvingergata in Sagene, there is parking for residents in both directions. Here the road is wide enough, but the width between the parking lot we measured 290-300 cm between two narrow cars, that is, significantly below the municipality’s requirements.
Also read: Residents furious at the decision of the Urban Environment Agency: – We believe this is unreasonable
– Harder without resident parking
Lan Marie Nguyen Berg, Councilor for the Environment and Transport, is the political director of the Urban Environment Agency.
– Why does the municipality apply different rules for the parking of residents so that some streets with almost exactly the same width are prohibited, while others have parking spaces?
– Not all paths are the same and there are many considerations to take, so it is natural for professionals to make their own assessments in individual cases when in doubt. If anyone thinks that incorrect assessments have been made, I encourage them to contact the Urban Environment Agency, Berg says in an email to Nettavisen.
– Does the municipality expect the residents to accept that some will be penalized with a ban on parking on their own street while others are guaranteed parking, when the streets are equally wide?
– I trust the assessments made by the professionals of the municipality to guarantee road safety or the accessibility of, among other things, emergency vehicles, and I believe that most of the people have also done so. If anyone does not agree with a decision, I hope they contact the municipality.
– How can the municipality call for a resident parking offer when it also eliminates parking spaces in reasonable proximity to the house?
– Without resident parking, it would be much more difficult to find space to park in these areas, says Berg.
Different rules
According to the Norwegian Public Roads Administration manual for road and street design, roads where “there is no significant need for large vehicle traffic” must be able to be used by vehicles up to 2.55 meters wide, it is ie significantly below the requirement of the municipality of Oslo.
The Oslo Municipality’s arrangements for rescue and fire fighting teams, on the other hand, require a minimum of 3.5 meters of road width, to “ensure proper maneuvering of vehicles in all conditions.”
Nicolai Langfeldt (H), vice chairman of the Oslo City Council’s Transport and Environment Committee, is skeptical of the 5.5 meter gauge requirement:
– If the city council intends to place a line where to introduce prohibited parking in all dead ends of the city and quiet residential areas of less than 5.5 meters, in the end there will not be many places to leave the car have your own garage. Langfeldt said on Thursday of this week.
– It has never been the intention
The city council claims that the parking spaces that are now being removed would have disappeared anyway:
– The assessment of removing those parking spaces would be the same even if the resident parking scheme in the area is now removed, except on the streets where the Urban Environment Agency now takes new assessments and possibly concludes that they may allow parking there anyway, says Berg.
He then refers to statements made by professionals from the Urban Environment Agency to the local newspaper Nordre Aker Budstikke that a new survey will be conducted on some streets.
– How far from your own home does the municipality think it is okay to have to pay for a parking space for residents?
– There is no fixed meter limit as the scheme is configured. The purpose of resident parking is to make parking less attractive to others than to those who live in an area, so that those who live there have better access to parking.
– It has never been the intention for everyone who wants to have a guaranteed public parking space right outside their door for a few hundred dollars a month. We don’t have room for that in the city, says Berg.
– To what extent has the municipality investigated whether there may be residents with special needs, such as the elderly or people with reduced mobility, on the streets who have been prohibited from parking?
– Oslo should be a city for everyone. The municipality has not spoken with everyone who lives in the area, but consideration for these groups is always high in our consciousness when the city develops. We are talking here about ensuring accessibility for, among other things, emergency vehicles and in the worst case it can be life or death. It must be a weighty consideration for the municipality.
The streets in question, which are now prohibited from parking, have had buildings since the 1930s. Residents have not been told so far that conditions are too narrow for emergency vehicles. Garbage trucks have the same requirements for road width as fire trucks, according to the Norwegian Public Roads Administration. They operate on the same roads that are now banned from weekly parking.
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