Wrong direction on downtown streets

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/07/2011 (5525 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I like Clancy’s, and I like Corey Roberts, but on the issue of downtown streets, I think he’s proposing a dead end.

On Monday, Roberts, who is also the city councillor for Rosser Ward, suggested a few changes to traffic flow downtown. Specifically, he’d like to see a few more one-way streets.

While I think his heart is in the right place, this seems to me to be a case of not being able to see the traffic for the cars.

Once 10th Street re-opens (a blog post for another day), Roberts would like to reduce it to single-lane traffic– northbound only — from Princess Avenue to Pacific Avenue. Cars on 10th Street would be able to turn right on Pacific, and then head south along a similar single-lane, one-way street on Ninth Street, back up to Princess Avenue.

Imagine it as a big circle, letting drivers go ’round and ’round until they found a parking spot they liked. Those parking spots, in Roberts’ plan, would be slightly easier to come by, because the single-lane traffic on Ninth and 10th Street would allow room for angle parking to replace parallel parking.

Perhaps the sidewalks could be widened a bit, too, allowing for the possibility of cafés along them?

But I digress.

I think the idea is fundamentally flawed.

Like many people, Roberts seems to think that downtown is too congested, and that there’s not enough parking, and it needs to be easier to drive around in.

That idea is exactly backwards.

Downtown should be harder to drive through, not easier. There’s already enough parking — more than enough — and people should be walking anyway. Yes, even in the winter. Yes, I’m serious.

The first order of business shouldn’t be to add more one-way streets and more parking, but to turn one-way street back into two-way streets. And to fill up parking lots with actual businesses and buildings.

In case you didn’t know, most downtowns started installing one-way streets downtown in the ’50s because they wanted to be able to evacuate residents quickly when the Russians launched nukes. This is a literal fact, although by the time the trend filtered down to Brandon, I’m sure it was much more about intercontinental ballistic bandwagon jumping than anything else.

These days, many cities are finally beginning to undo the one-way street mess, and revert to two-way streets.

If you don’t believe me, go ahead and Google either "one way streets downtown" or "two way streets downtown" and an easy 90 per cent of the results will be studies or news articles touting the benefits of two-way streets.

So why should Brandon jump on the two-way street trend?

Well, first of all, because it works. Cities that have gone back to two-way streets have found that they’ve improved the streetscape, the pedestrian experience, and the economic activity.

Translation: It’s good for both business and people.

It’s not so good for drivers who want to dash through downtown on their way somewhere else — but why should downtown cater to people who don’t want to be there?

There are better streets — actual thoroughfares — that drivers can use in Brandon if they want to get between First Street and 18th Street. But if people are using Rosser or Princess as a way to quickly nip over east or west, then that’s a failure of downtown planning.

As for parking, in my reading about this subject, I came across a trenchant quote:

Today’s parking lots are “ghosts of businesses past,” said Fargo city commissioner Mike Williams, speaking in favour of restoring two-way traffic there.

Take a walk around downtown Brandon and you’ll see the same thing. Parking lots have replaced storefronts — and to no one’s benefit. The best, and most bustling blocks of Rosser Avenue are actually the ones with the least parking!

So, shall I put my money where my mouth is?

Okay, here goes:

 

It’s a little pie-in-the sky, but bear with me:

1. Convert both Rosser Avenue and Princess Avenue back to two-way traffic, like they used to be.

2. Go hog wild with pedestrian-only, blocked off streets:

• 100- and 200-block of Ninth Street
• Princess Avenue between Eighth and 10th Street
• 100-block of 10th Street
• Rosser Avenue between Seventh and 10th Street
• the Eighth Street bus mall

3. Install traffic circles where Princess and Rosser Avenues would dead-end, to funnel traffic onto side streets, or to allow drivers to turn around (remember, they’re two-way traffic now).

4. Consider allowing buses only to travel through the pedestrian malls on Rosser and Princess.

5. Ideally, eliminate the need for a bus mall altogether by rearranging the bus routes.

6. Even more ideally, connect the bus mall area directly to the Eighth Street Bridge for pedestrians.

All of the places I’ve picked for traffic circles have large parking lots or other open areas that could be turned into roundabouts — there’s no need for knocking down any more buildings.

Pedestrians wouldn’t need to cross any streets to stay in the pedestrian-only area — they could skirt along the edges of the traffic circles.

It would completely eliminate drivers who try to use downtown streets as thoroughfares.

Is it perfect? Hardly!

But tell me what you’d change, and why.