Downtown Parking Analysis for a Small City: Case Study of Hudson, Wisconsin

Skill Building

Traditional downtown business districts face numerous challenges to their vitality and viability. Not the least of these is parking. Given the compact design of traditional downtown areas, the popularity of automobiles has placed increasing pressure on downtown parking. This is particularly true in downtowns that are experiencing revitalization, such as Hudson, Wisconsin, which is an historic community adjacent to the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.

Through an ad-hoc parking advisory committee the city government and the Chamber of Commerce asked the St. Croix County office of the University of Wisconsin-Extension to develop research-based information for use in making informed decisions about parking policies, facilities, and regulations in the downtown business district.

Objectives of this applied research were twofold, first to measure parking occupancy patterns in the downtown at different times during the day in each of the four seasons and second to identify opinions and experiences related to downtown parking from three groups: downtown visitors, residents within the trade area, and downtown business owners and employees.

Based on the success of the study in 2000-01 and the increasing activity in the downtown area, the city asked UW-Extension to conduct another study in 2005 in order to update the data and findings.

This presentation will include the methodology, data, and conclusions from the 2000 and 2005 studies and will highlight the subsequent actions taken by the community.