On Monday, Mayor Kathy Sheehan signed into law a new 25 mph speed limit in Albany. Also on Monday, the Common Council laid on their desks a law that would reduce the speed limit in Hudson to 25 mph. The new law would establish 25 mph as the maximum speed throughout the city, except for two spots: - On Fairview Avenue from the city limits to Graham Avenue, the stretch of Fairview Avenue where it's Hudson on one side of the street and Greenport on the other. There the speed limit will remain 40 mph.
- On Route 9G from the city limits to Power Avenue. At the city line, the speed limit will go from 55 mph to 35 mph, and at Power Avenue, the speed limit will drop to 25 mph.
The "Legislative Findings" section of the proposed law cites safety as the principal reason for reducing the speed limit. In the interest of safety, there is another thing the Council should consider: making Allen and Union streets below Third one way. Union could go east, Allen could go west, or vice versa.COPYRIGHT 2024 CAROLE OSTERINK
Generally, as in most urban settings, I don't think most drivers in Hudson are paying attention to their speedometers. I know that I tend not to. We all drive at the speed we have chosen as appropriate over time. For most it's 20-30, and for others it's faster. I'm afraid that since HPD does not enforce the speed limit (and most everyone knows it), our chosen comfortable speeds will remain the same and the new speed limit will have little to no effect on most, if not all, drivers. Even, and especially, the regular lead foots.
ReplyDeleteAbout time. They should consider making lower Union and Allen one way. It's really crazy the way it is. And Upper Union is a speedway, 25 mph makes no difference, but hopefully if the whole City is 25mph, then it will. I don't understand as it goes right past the Police Station but I guess they are either revving up there or revving down by the time they get there.
ReplyDeleteMaking Union and Allen one way to reduce traffic will only impose it on other areas. Right now, Allen Street, Willard Place and S. 5th., the areas with the wealthiest residents, has the most privacy and the least amount of traffic of any streets in the city. Lower income areas, Columbia and State Street, are burdened with the majority of the obnoxious street traffic. So it certainly wouldn't be equitable to reduce traffic in the wealthy, upper income neighborhoods by imposing it on lower income ones, even though that has been the routine here. Unfortunately, cars aren't going to vanish, that's the problem. With hundreds of apartments soon coming on line, it's only going to get worse.
DeleteIronically, being that there's no enforcement, the tight clearance on lower Union and Allen are the only things slowing people down. And yes, upper Union is a speedway, despite the 25 MPH limit and the police station. There was a collision last week at 5th and Union where a Jeep was completely flipped over.
ReplyDeleteWhat Union Jack says is true. As a resident of lower Union, I oppose the idea of making it a one-way street. When I consulted an urban-design firm specializing in pedestrian safety on the number one thing they would do to lower speed on a street like Union, they said: chicanes--which are intentional bends in the road/obstacles that force cars to slow down--much as oncoming cars do now. Driver convenience comes at the expense of pedestrian safety on a street like ours.
ReplyDeleteOn lower Union, there isn't even room for 2 parked lanes and 2 moving lanes. You need to pull over to let cars go by...and winter is worse. It doesn't really matter which way the traffic flows. The street is not wide enough for 4 cars.
ReplyDeleteParking is a huge problem in Hudson which is never addressedexcept to make things worse.
ReplyDeleteI hear there is a big push again to install parking meters on Warren below 3rd. Wait until all those cars seek parking on Union.
The fire department will say changing the streets to one way is a no go; DPW will say it's a no go for some cockamamie reason or three; and the only person who is authorized to get it done, HPD Commissioner who doesn't work for HPD Shane Bower, won't even be in the room. Complain about it all you want, it ain't gonna happen in our lifetimes. No way. They're not interested. They don't want to hear what any residents have to say, even those people who live on the streets. They've got it all figured out without us. Everything is just fine.
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