Lee Erwin
lerwin@clarksvillenow.com
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Technology and more free parking is taking over in downtown Clarksville, at least when it comes to the parking meters because thanks to the Parking Authority and the Two Rivers Company you’ll have more options now to park free and you can use your debit or credit card.
Some of the new ideas in the works for folks heading downtown include one hour of free parking. The first hour of parking will be free for shoppers or visitors who are simply making a brief stop at a downtown business or office.
Speaking of free parking, Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. is the only time you have to pay to park. One thing that will not change is parking downtown on evenings and weekends which will still be free.
The new digital parking meters which are already showing up in areas like Franklin Street and Strawberry Alley will also allow the use of debit and credit cards. That should make the problem of suddenly discovering that you have no change to feed the meter much easier to deal with.
One aspect of plans for the new meters that many people may have to get used to is the fact that there will be a three-hour limit on parking in any one space. The digital meters will reset after three hours and a vehicle in a space will have to be moved or face a possible parking fine.
When it comes to an hour of free parking, Travis Esterby, Co-Owner of the Runners Hub on Franklin Street told Clarksvillenow.com he though it was a great idea. “There’s a lot of things that you can accomplish in that hour and someone’s not hogging up a spot all day,” said Esterby.
Esterby added that two hours of free parking would be better but it’s definitely a start in the right direction and there’s still some work to be done as far as the downtown parking scenario but it’s definitely going in the right direction.