Navigating Athens

Tips to Know about Athens, the Classic City

Athens is a place with backroads, one-way streets, and lots of places you can and cannot park. Because of the mixture between campus and downtown, there are tons of student-only parking lots as well as decks, meter spaces, and no parking zones that you need to know about prior to making a trip to the Classic City. Because people live and work in downtown Athens there are different pay per month parking lots that are open to students, workers, or Athens frequenters. There are four lots that are known for being monthly lots, and their locations determine their price. 142 Oconee Street is $65 a month, 165 West Clayton Street is $55 a month, 295 West Clayton Street is $65 a month, and the lot at the intersection of Broad & Pulaski is $65 a month. The monthly parking on these lots are not valid on game days and require a $3 processing fee for each monthly transaction.

The same company also offers gameday parking passes for singular games, the entire seasons, and for RVs. Typically season passes range from $210 to $440 based on the location of the lot. Rv parking is usually around $300 per weekend and has some regulations that come with it that you must agree to prior to paying the weekend fee. Regardless, all of these lots sell out exceedingly fast, so make sure you reserve your RV or parking spot quickly.

A newly developed software, Parkopedia, allows people to see the parking options available in downtown Athens prior to getting to their destination; it has proven to be very useful and has come in handy multiple times when I am headed to shop or eat. These downtown street parking spaces are meter payments that take both cards and coins and require payment prior to leaving your car in the space. So make sure you can gauge how long you will be gone or pay for a long time to avoid getting booted or towed. There are plenty of towing companies that will tow and boot cars that are parked for too long, parked illegally, or left unattended as well as give out tickets.

There are also tons of parking decks available in downtown Athens that are open for parking to the public and are cheap for the day. The Washington Deck and the College Avenue Deck are all reasonably priced for daily and monthly parking rates. While the Classic Center Deck is on the other end of downtown and has similar rates, it is more convenient to different locations in Athens as well as it being good for Classic Center Events. The Courthouse Deck is also available downtown, but has no reservable long term parking available and therefore is not a great choice for anyone needing a consistent spot.

In terms of absolute no-nos in Athens, I would absolutely caution anyone from parking in any apartment complexes in Athens. These tend to tow and boot non-resident vehicles, and some are even known for towing cars from the visitor spots if they exceed certain time limits. Therefore, unless you have received a visitor pass or some sort of written authorization, I would avoid parking in these locations. There are also tons of one-way streets in Athens that are sometimes not anticipated by drivers, so make sure to be aware of those when driving to your location. These streets are mostly downtown and can cause issues when trying to get to certain storefronts, restaurants, and offices.

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