I know two-way Johnson and Gorham is unimaginable to some, but remember, when Gorham was being reconstructed, all the traffic went somewhere and we all survived. Tonight the council will vote on whether or not we should have a study to look at two-way Johnson and Gorham, its item 123 and will cost the city $75,000. Personally, I think that the city should have staff to do this kind of work. And, there has been quite a bit of study already done. Here’s a powerpoint presentation that was done for me by staff when I was an alder.
Ok, here’s the arguments for two-way:
Some of the benefits of two-way streets when compared to one-way streets include the following.
· Studies have shown that two-way streets result in a decrease in vehicle miles traveled (VMT). One way streets eliminate some direct routes and force road users to make extra turns and travel greater distances to reach destinations. One way streets result in recirculation of traffic to get to their destinations. Thus one way streets result in an increase in VMT which is associated with increased congestion and degradation in air quality.
· Two-way streets make it significantly easier for the visitor to the downtown and tourists to find/get to their destination resulting in a more pleasant visitor experience.
· Two-way streets result in improved pedestrian safety. Please see the linked document, p. 4-5 for a insight into pedestrian safety issues.
· Two-way streets result in a large increase in livability along two way vs. one way streets. See p. 5 of the linked document.
· Two-way streets result in increased viability of businesses along the streets. See p. 12-13 of the linked document. In addition, traffic on two way streets typically travel at speeds closer to the speed limit (rather than exceeding the limits which is more common on one way streets) allowing commercial establishments to be noticed/found more readily.
· While two-way streets may result in a small delay in traffic which may be an issue for those drivers focused on speed to the exclusion of other issues, allowing for traffic “signal progression to favor the peak direction movement during the morning and afternoon peak hours” actually results in “minimal effect on through-vehicle delay or the capacity of the network.” (See the linked document, p. 4)
One article that is particularly well done and informative can be found at: http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/circulars/ec019/Ec019_f2.pdf
ABSTRACT
As many communities are in the process of revitalizing their downtowns, a common issue is the prevalence of intricate and often confusing one-way street networks. This paper provides a comparison of one-way versus two-way street systems for downtowns and presents an evaluation methodology for considering two-way conversion. The analysis gives equal weight to all modes of travel and includes the non-regular visitor to downtown. Motorist analysis factors include mobility, vehicle miles of travel (VMT), number of turning movements, travel time, vehicle capacity, and parking supply. Pedestrian factors analyzed are number and severity of pedestrian/vehicle crossing conflicts. Direction and symmetry of routes comprise the transit analysis factors, and retail factors measure the visibility of street front locations.
Thanks to the Forward Lookout spy network for pulling this info together.
