CHATHAM MAIN STREET PARKING
A Recommendation to Chatham's Board of Selectmen
Parking on Chatham's Main Street is problematic, especially during July and August. The street is narrow, even narrower in certain places, and traffic moves slowly and frequently conies to a halt when vehicles are parking or when vehicles are entering the flow of traffic from side streets and alleyways. Other interruptions to traffic flow include pedestrians on crosswalks, pedestrians crossing where there are no crosswalks, bicyclists, bicyclists towing infants in small carriages, and drivers and passengers entering and exiting vehicles from the street. Sometimes vehicles come to sudden stops, when pedestrians dart into the street, or when they emerge onto a crosswalk from the concealment of an SUV or van or delivery truck.
While Main Street is narrow, it is made even narrower by vehicles not parked within the white lines. Some vehicles legally parked within the white lines are hazards because they block the vision of drivers and pedestrians alike.
The Non-Voting Taxpayers Advisory Committee makes the following recommendations that are intended to make somewhat smoother the flow of Main Street traffic and make consistent the ticketing of illegally parked vehicles.
1. Enhance safety by establishing four-foot buffer zones on either side of crosswalks by moving white lines and painting over the old ones. Similarly, establish four-foot buffer zones on either side of alleyways and cross streets
Safety calls for immediate action; there is no need or reason to wait until Main Street is repaved.
2. A related matter is the inconsistent ticketing of vehicles. Some officers ticket vehicles whose tires are touching the white line; some officers ticket vehicles whose tires are within the white lines, but whose chassis, bumpers, etc, protrude beyond the white lines. Some officers ticket only vehicles whose tires go outside the white lines. Officers should be consistent.
On a related matter, the Town might consider placing on the much abused blinking light at the rotary a sign that cautions drivers headed downtown that they do not have the right of way.
Donald Edge, Dolly Howell , Peter Tarrant
Subcommittee on Traffic and Parking Non-Voting Taxpayers Advisory Committee
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