Parking on West King Street Restored

Regular travelers of West King Street have noticed by now that the new, wide yellow median paint west of Crest Avenue has been painted over. In March, Malvern Borough Council voted to reinstate parking on the north side of the street in response to residents' requests.

Parking will be permitted between Crest and Malvern avenues, with delineated spaces, as recommended by the borough engineer. To make room, the wide yellow median was reverted to a narrow double-yellow line.

The wide median was added less than a year ago as part of a traffic-calming effort. The idea was to artifically constrict the roadway, without installing an actual island that would impede residents' abilities to enter and exit their driveways. Some residents told the council it actually made the speeding worse.

"I try to get my mail, and I’m almost hit," said Robert Hunsicker, who has lived on the road since 1990. "Just recently, [a] guy buzzed through the stop sign, hit my daughter's car, moved it 30 feet."

Hunsicker said the speeding wasn't as bad before the addition of the wide median, which he compared to air traffic control lines.

The board discussed making the new parking policy a 90-day test run, but that was not part of the final motion to re-stripe the roadway.

Council members Richard Sponenbergh, Woody Van Sciver, William Macaleer and Joseph Giandonato voted in favor of the measure. Cathy Raymond abstained, and Zeyn Uzman was absent.