Hey Forrest,
Great to hear from you! It was nice to see fellow residents at the meeting!
More
on the parking situation, the town does list numerous public parking
spots in downtown that visitors can use, most within a few minutes of
walking:
- Library: 3 Washington St, Hudson
- South Street Parking Lot: 25 South St, Hudson
- Avidia Lot after 6PM: 78 Main St, Hudson
- Cellucci Parking: 23 Houghton St, Hudson
- RailRoad Ave. and Church Street Parking: Nearby 29 Church St, Hudson
- 2 Hour Parking Lot: 8 South St, Hudson
There
are also plenty of side streets that people will use for off-street
parking. Admittedly Hudson's parking situation isn't the most convenient
for visitors who aren't used to the area, and this is backed up with a
parking study:
There are 1,400 parking spaces, but many spaces are hard to find.
− There is a perception of lack of parking
− Many lots do not have clear or visible signage that indicates whether or not one can
park there
− There are more than a dozen different types of regulations
− Half of off-street parking is "restricted access", meaning that the lots are not available
to the general public
− There are some lots that are publicly owned and available to the general public, yet
most of the stakeholders and workshop participants we spoke with did not know they
existed
− Some parking areas are difficult to find from the roadway and/or challenging to
access, so they end up being underutilized
− Overall signage is confusing to customers
The
study is fairly old and the parking situation may have improved since
then, but I think the point is clear that there's a demand for improved
parking. I hope the town will do more to make parking easier to find
instead of adding more parking spaces. We definitely have plenty of
parking, it's just that visitors may have to plan ahead as it's not
designed like a shopping plaza with massive parking lots in front of
storefronts.
I also hope the town will do more
to invest in transit so car traffic and parking demand are reduced. As
it stands right now, our regional transit authority has a fairly limited
schedule and its coverage isn't great either:
It
is for example technically possible to travel from Hudson to Boston via
bus and train, but it will take an excruciatingly long time, requires
multiple transfers, and may even be at times be unsafe due to poor
pedestrian infrastructure along the route:
This
is why my wife and I compromise by driving to the train station first
when going on day trips into the city. We hope to further reduce our car
dependency by having more robust public transit in the central Mass
area. There's something to be said for having the freedom to travel without needing to take several tons of privately-owned metal
with you.
- Josh