Ralph and Sherrill Lausch parked their cars outside their home Sunday afternoon and then parked themselves on their front porch with tall glasses of iced tea.

For hours they watched as SUVs maneuvered down the street and an RRTA bus inched past a car.

The Lausches were observing the effects of an experiment during which three city blocks were taped off so residents could park at an angle rather than parallel to the curb.

The exercise was designed to help city officials determine whether angled parking would be feasible in certain areas of the city.

Taped off Sunday afternoon were the 400 block of College Avenue, the 600 block of West Lemon Street and the 700 block of North Plum Street, where the Lausches live.

Like most residents who talked to the Intelligencer Journal Sunday, the Lausches said they don't have a strong opinion one way or the other about the angled parking idea, but did have some concerns should the city move forward with the plan.

"A bus came up here a little while ago and had some difficulty getting by a car coming the opposite direction," Mr. Lausch said. He said the two vehicles passed one another where his pickup truck was parked.

"If there would have been a smaller car parked there, it probably wouldn't have been a problem," he said. "It just so happened that everything came together at the same point, but, obviously, you need to consider that can happen."

Mrs. Lausch said the narrower traffic lanes did force motorists to slow down, which is one of the goals of the plan.

"We do have somewhat of a speeding problem," she said. "(The traffic light at Clay Street) is the last one and then it's a straight shot (to New Holland Avenue) so people really get going sometimes. They are moving slower today — maybe it's just because of the orange cones, I don't know."

City officials began taping angled lines on streets early Sunday morning. Double yellow lines were taped over and cones set out to alert motorists to the altered parking and traffic patterns. The tape was removed beginning at 8 p.m.

Anna Mary Wilkinson, who lives in the 600 block of West Lemon Street, parked her Mazda Miata in an angled space just to "try it out."

"It's actually easier than parallel parking," Wilkinson said. "I like it fine. To be honest, I don't really care one way or the other."

Wilkinson said her only concern is that larger vehicles may block the line of sight for smaller cars attempting to pull out of spaces.

Phil Harnish, whose mother has lived in the 600 block of West Lemon Street for 45 years, said he's not sure how well angled parking would work on Lemon Street because of narrow traffic lanes, but said the idea could succeed on College Avenue.

"The possibility definitely exists there," Harnish said. "Because it's a much wider street, it creates a much better situation."

Sunday night, Mayor Rick Gray said he felt the exercise was successful and said he received a lot of positive feedback from residents, especially in the west end of town.

"I think this is definitely something we'll continue to pursue on College Avenue," Gray said. "Aesthetically and practically, I think it works for that area and neighbors seemed to be in favor of it. I'm sure we'll continue to explore it in other areas of the city, but for now, I think College Avenue is one area in which it's worth looking at more extensively."

Angled parking in the 400 block of College Avenue would increase the number of parking spaces by eight, Gray said, giving the block a total of 36 spaces. He said he would like to examine the possibility of angled parking on College Avenue from West Lemon Street to Harrisburg Avenue.

"But I want to stress to people that we haven't made any decisions," Gray said. "We're going to kick this around a little more and definitely talk to more residents along with Franklin & Marshall before doing anything.

"Today's exercise was a real success, though. I think it accomplished what we wanted — gave people an opportunity to see what it would look like and gave them a real feel for it."

An angled parking plan would require approval from the city's traffic commission, Gray said.

E-mail: jtodd@lnpnews.com