SALEM, MASS. (WHDH) - Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll is urging visitors to the spooky city to take the Commuter Rail on Oct. 15– all the city’s parking spots are full.
“The City of Salem advises those planning to visit Salem today, October 15, to park on the MBTA Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail line and take the train to Salem. There are no parking spaces available in Salem. All lots, garages, and spaces are now filled, including satellite parking lots. Many downtown roads are now closed to traffic. Do not drive to Salem,” she said in a statement.
The MBTA’s timetable can be found here.
Recent numbers showed nearly 80,000 people visited Salem Saturday, Oct. 8.
Driscoll told 7NEWS the city was overwhelmed by the amount of people visiting over the weekend.
“The tricky part of coming to Salem and driving in is our roads were built for horse and buggy. We just can’t accommodate the number of vehicles. It can be really frustrating: the traffic, the gridlock, not enough parking spaces,” she said.
Driscoll said the city was prepared for other measures if it came to it.
“Eventually we just fill up and just start not letting people come in to downtown, we set up a perimeter. So people who are coming, we encourage folks to get here early,” she said. “And then if it gets just too filled, honestly, we’ll just keep moving people out into the city next door, into Beverly, where you’ll have to take the train in.”
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