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HomeMy WebLinkAboutWalkable City Rules Two Ways Streets 38 Revert Multilane One-ways "7 � to Two-way for Business In many cities, one-way networks are holding business back. IF YOUR CITY DOES NOT HAVE any multilane one- new one-ways as we speak. Las Vegas just decided to tum way streets, you can skip this section and the three that its Main Street one-way. At least it's got a bike lane. follow. But most sizeable American cities do, and many Because Las Vegas refuses to follow even the laws of small cities as well. How this happened, mostly between physics, this would be a good time to point out that there 1950 and 1980, is well covered in Walkable City in a sec- are exceptions to every rule. One-way main streets thrive tion tided "The One—Way Epidemic," which attempts to in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Palm Beach,and a few other places. But, as with pedestrian malls, the suc- Whether in Durham, NC, Davenport, cesses are relatively rare. Much more common,in fact Wi- cal, is what happened in Savannah, GA, when East Broad Ito, or Cornelius, OR, there is always Street was made one-way in 1969, and two thirds of its an old-timer who can tell you how the businesses disappeared. (Happily, it was reverted back to two-way in 1990, and promptly saw the number of busi- one-ways came to town and the shops ness addresses rise by 50%.) left, pronto. Anecdotes are not data, but it is remarkable how simi- lar the stories are that one hears echoed in city after city convey the extent of the damage wrought by this nation- when working as a planner over a few decades. Whether wide error. Since that book was written, more data and in Durham, NC, Davenport, IA, or Cornelius, OR,there stories have been collected,and it is hard to find a city plan- is always an old-timer who can tell you how the one-ways ner who is not aware of the national movement to revert came to town and the shops left, pronto. It is also surpris- j one-way streets back to two-way travel. Still, many Ameri- ing how many times one meets suburbanites who say that can cities remain unwilling to reconsider their downtown they don't come downtown because they are"afraid of get- one-ways, and some are even—double take!—introducing ting lost in the one-way streets." 90 -•"_ram =� "*��,sie�s'�'�`_'"t_: WALKABLE CITY RULES 91 ■ V. wave of success s the transformation i ._�... Purred in large Part b Y J" of this community from Cincinnati's most dangerous + ' neighborhood into a hipster haven. This revival was cen- tered on Vine Street, and began after the City reverted r that street to two-way traffic in 1999. Most city officials know this. Meanwhile, for more than a decade, the City has been pondering reverting nearby Main Street to two-way traffic, for a mere quarter mile. Every two years or so, an article appears about how this may happen. It hasn't. More studies are recommended. Similar stories of two-way success fol- lowed by the inability to reach for more of it could be told in a dozen other American downtowns. Vine Street in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood began its Why are multilane one-way streets so bad for business? revitalization with a two-way reversion. First, there is the speed and the jockeying of the cars. Sec- ond is the visibility problem: stores on cross streets whose Another benefit of decades of practice is to witness facades face the direction of flow are never seen by passing firsthand the main street revivals that have followed many drivers (think about it). Finally, one-ways create a feast-or- two-way reversions. Again, from West Palm Beach, FL, famine scenario depending on whether a street is on the to Vancouver, WA, stories abound about how the change morning or evening commute. Restaurants and bars will from speedy one-way to calm two-way boosted revenues not thrive on a one-way that is inbound; few people dine to retailers.Vancouver's comeback was hailed in Governing or drink (we hope) on the way to work. Magazine as "The Return of the Two-Way Street," in that For these reasons, two-way reversions are sweeping the important 2009 article.153 nation. . . just not fast enough. The only good reason not Yet, despite all the'evidence, most cities exhibit tre- to revert a moribund one-way back to two-way travel is mendous inertia on this topic. Case in point: Cincinnati. fear of the displacement that can come with revitalization The story that everyone hears about Cincy these days (see Rule 14).This fear is justified, and should lead to plan- is the remarkable revival of OTR, the Over-the-Rhine ning for the retention of existing businesses whenever such neighborhood north of downtown. The city is riding a an improvement is made. RULE 38: Retail one-way streets should be reverted to two-way travel in places where improvement is desired. Revert Multilane One-ways 39 to Two-way for Safety � f In many cities, one-way networks create unnecessary danger. TRAFFIC SAFETY is often counterintuitive. Many people assume that md- tilane one-way streets are safer than two-way, because you have to look in only one direction to cross, and there are fewer chances for head-on collisions.The problem with this thinking was summed up in a Traverse City, MI,editorial of 1967, asserting that "one way traffic made for a faster, safer flow of vehicles in the downtown area.15' We now know this phrase to be self-contradictory. Judging from the colli- sion data already discussed (Rule 31), there is no such thing as faster and safer. Higher speed causes more collisions and more death. A choice of lanesprovi&s the opportunity to jockey. Why do people speed on multilane one-ways? First, due to that lowered risk of head-on collisions. Second, because a street with many lanes in the same direction just feels like a highway. Third, because a choice of lanes provides the opportunity to jockey. This may be the most decisive factor; on a normal street without a passing lane, the slowest driver sets the speed, for better or for worse. In places where people walk, it's for better. For this reason,where data has been collected, two-way reversions have been shown to save lives. Probably the best study so far was conducted in Louisville, where William Riggs and John Gilderbloom looked at four adjacent one-way streets, two of which were reverted to two-way traffic in 2011. The reverted 92 WALKABLE CITY RULES 1 93 then speed to the front of the wave. For this reason, speeds • `'�' '..� on signal-timed one-way streets often far outpace the sig- nal progression. And that's not all. These drivers, as they turn onto the one-way, focus their attention over their shoulder in -w the direction of oncoming traffic. They tend not to look straight ahead, where there may be a pedestrian in the crosswalk. In Lancaster, PA, where PennDOT one-ways lace the downtown, crashes and near-misses of this nature 1 are a regular occurrence. Interestingly, one-way streets also appear to invite TW"A-f- crime. In the same Louisville study, total reported crimes Burdened by speeding,New Albany,IN,recently reverted almost all dropped by about 23%on the reverted streets,while going of its one-way strects for a total cost of$4 million.This plan went from up 3% on the streets that remained one-way.'SG The causes proposed to complete in less than three years. of this relationship are many, but it is interesting to notice that one-ways provide "shadow zones" between buildings { in which people can hide. In the same way that one-ways streets,Brook and 1",experienced a collective drop in total hurt businesses whose facades face the direction of traffic collisions of about 49%, despite attracting more vehicles and are therefore never seen by drivers, they also create daily than before the change. At the same time, crashes on many areas where people can loiter unobserved. the two one-way streets went up by about 10%.155 With the reduction of speeding and crime on the two- It is sometimes suggested that the danger of multilane way streets, property values increased dramatically. Home one-ways can be mitigated by timing the signal progression sales on Louisville's Brook and 1"streets reflected an annual at a moderate speed.Most cities that have such streets have appreciation of 21.6%, as citywide housing values—and coordinated the signals to create a slow "green wave" of prices on the one-ways—declined slightly. flow to keep speeding in check. But signals are not always Increased property values result in higher tax revenue. present and, even where they are, another problem arises: Decreased crashes and crime reduce the cost of policing. drivers turning onto the one-ways from side streets learn Most significantly, saving lives is good. These outcomes that, if they gun it around the corner, they can catch the should motivate more cities to revert more of their one- end of the wave, beating a red light. If traffic is thin, they way streets back to two-way travel. RULE 39: One-way streets with significant crash occurrence should be reverted to two-way travel to improve safety. ! 40Revert Multilane One-ways 1 to Two-way for Convenience The choice is not as simple as vitality and safety vs. smooth traffic. THERE IS LITTLE DOUBT that a wave of green in a two-way network. The traffic engineer Vikash Gayah lights allows drivers to zip through a downtown area more at Penn State University has demonstrated how, for shoe quickly than they could in a typical two-way network in trips, such looping causes one-ways to actually perform which signals are not timed. However, it is not necessarily worse than two-ways when many trips are short."' correct to assume that having a green wave in and out of Extra trips.In some places,one-way systems even create town is the most efficient way to organize a street network, trips that would not otherwise take place. In Tulsa,valets ior that a switch back to two-way traffic is likely to increase at the Hyatt hotel, in order to bring a guest her car,mast j congestion, for a number of reasons. embark on a half-mile odyssey from garage to front door Circuitous trips.In one-way systems, many trips begin involving four turns and five traffic signals. It should also be and/or end with a doubling-back that would not take place noted that, to the degree that one-way systems encourage speeds that discourage walking, they scare would-be pedes- trians into their cars, putting more drivers on the street. Green waver.A cascading series of green lights is pos- sible not only on one-way streets. It can also be introduced } to two-way systems where there is a dominant path of rush-hour travel in and out of downtown. Left-turn lanes: Introducing dedicated left-turn lanes allows a two-way network to perform almost as efficiently r..:, as a one-way system. However, it should be noted that Ich- turn lanes should be avoided if their presence requires the l removal of a significant amount of parallel parking,which the protractcd loop from Hyatt parking to Hyatt pickup in Tulsa. can be essential to the success and safety of a downtown. 4 WALKABLE CITY RULES 1 95 Emergency response and resiliency: Police, fire not be needed. Still, it is difficult to spend public dollars departments, and other emergency responders are often changing the direction of traffic on a street on which, not delayed and frustrated by one-way systems that lengthen that long ago,you spent public dollars changing the direc- their path to a crisis. Additionally, when a crash or other tion of traffic. Motivation can perhaps be found in those incident closes a street, one-way systems require more dis- places where successful two-way reversions have already tant detours than two-way networks, in which a shift of a been completed, including Albuquerque, Arlington (VA), single block will suffice. Ann Arbor, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Boise, Buffalo, Cedar Rapids, Charleston, Charlottesville, Chicago, Cin- Police,fire departments, and other cinnati, Colorado Springs, Columbus, Dallas, Davenport (IA), Dayton, Denver, Detroit, Durham, Edmonton(AB), emergency responders are often delayed El Paso, Evansville (IN), Fort Collins (CO), Fort Wayne and frustrated by one-way systems that (IN), Hamilton (ON), Holland (MI), Huntington (WV), Indianapolis, Iowa City, Jackson, Kalispell (MT), Kansas lengthen their path to a crisis. City (MO), Kichener (ON), Kokomo (IN), Lancaster (PA), Lawrence (MA), Louisville, Los Angeles, Lowell Fewer signals: Often, when a one-way network is (MA), Lubbock (TX), Mankato (MN), Melbourne (FL), reverted to two-way, it is possible to eliminate some traf- Mexico City, Michigan City(IN), Milwaukee, Minneapo- fic signals in favor of all-way stop signs. This opportu- lis, Mt. Pleasant (SC), Nashville, New Albany(IN), Okla- nity arises because signals are typically required where homa City, Omaha, Ottumwa (IA), Pittsburgh, Roanoke, two multilane one-ways meet, but may not be warranted Rochester (NY), Raleigh, Redmond (WA), Richmond, when two 2-lane two-ways meet. In addition to saving Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, San Marcos (TX), lives (see Rule 76), all-way stop signs can make paths Savannah, Seattle, Somerville (MA), South Bend, Stur- through a downtown more efficient by eliminating the geon Bay (WI), Tampa, Toledo, Tulsa, Tucson, Vancou- need to sit idling at red lights. They are also considerably ver (WA), and West Lafayette (IN), and West Palm Beach less expensive to install and maintain than traffic signals. (FL), and Winchester (VA). This rule and the two prior ones lay out a comprehen- The above list is incomplete and will soon be out of sive series of arguments in favor of reverting multilane one- date, as more and more communities work to correct the way streets back to two-way traffic. Further evidence should mistakes of the last century. RULE 40: Question assumptions and studies that suggest that reverting a one-way system to two-way traffic will increase congestion.