The City of Knoxville is going high tech…or at least, the parking meters are. Knoxville will soon have new parking meters that accept credit cards, as well as the traditional payment of coins.
The new meters are solar powered, and will replace some of the current, worn down meters dotting the streets. The new ones will contain a computer that will provide city officials with data about how often the spaces are used and which areas of town may need more parking.
“It’ll also communicate if there’s going to be a parking prohibition there,” said Jim Hagerman, the director of engineering for the city. “If there’s a parade or a farmers market or something coming up in a couple of days, we can tell them that in the text window.”
Some of the new meters are already installed on Walnut Street downtown. The city plans to eventually replace all the meters in downtown and Fort Sanders.