Expanded loading zones and changes in traffic patterns along Beaver Avenue may reduce the number of trucks parked in travel lanes downtown.

State College Borough Council voted unanimously Monday night to accept an ordinance that will make the changes.

Traffic along Beaver Avenue will make a slight shift to the north side of the road between Burrowes and Allen streets, State College Director of Public Works Mark Whitfield said. The shift will allow for parking and a loading zone to be created on the same side as Panera Bread, 148 S. Allen St., he said.

In the move, 14 parking spaces will be eliminated downtown and the loading zones will be expanded to a size more suitable for the trucks. Thus, trucks will be removed from travel lanes and reduce downtown congestion, Whitfield said.

The change in traffic pattern should occur by July 1, he said.

Trucks delivering to Panera are a daily occurrence, assistant manager Edward Hoey said. They come each afternoon and park in the travel lanes, causing traffic congestion, he said. "We always have a couple complaints," Hoey said.

Creating an unloading zone in front of the store will get the trucks out of the travel lanes, he added.

The lane shifts will create space for loading and unloading zones, but will also have another effect.

"Beaver Avenue is a long stretch of concrete highway," Whitfield said. "At night it will slow people down and give a little more of a suburban feel."

Loading zones were originally implemented in State College in the mid-1980s, Whitfield said. During that time, there were distinct periods of heavy traffic throughout the day when trucks could easily load and unload, he said.

With increasing traffic, all that has changed. There are no longer peak periods for traffic -- it lasts all day, Whitfield said.

One option to reduce congestion downtown is to eliminate trucks from unloading in the travel lanes, he said. When the situation was examined, it was found that many of the zones were too small for the trucks, he said.

An additional problem the delivery trucks face is often times the available zones are occupied by private vehicles, or small vehicles that have been issued parking permits, he said.

To help fix this problem, vehicles with loading zone permits will not be permitted to use the zones along Beaver and College avenues between the hours of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Whitfield said. Private vehicles parked in the zones will be issued a ticket for $25. Members of the council are hopeful the new ordinance will reduce congestion in the downtown area. "Hopefully we'll have better traffic patterns downtown," Council President Richard McCarl said. "If I'm downtown and there's a truck blocking traffic, I'm just as upset as anybody."