Downtown Street Changes In The Works (28. November 2006, 12:19 by Derek Young) ~ Which Way?
I’m a little slow getting some stories online, but here you go…
The City of Tacoma would like to make a few changes to the flow of our downtown streets. What are the changes? 1. St. Helens street would change from two way to one way with traffic heading up the hill. 2. Broadway between 7th and 9th would change from one way to two way. The change precedes the beginning of LID work set to begin soon both on Broadway and in the St. Helens neighborhood.
From the News Tribune:
 |
“The proposed changes would improve safety for drivers and pedestrians, allow for more angle parking on Broadway, improve traffic circulation into and out of downtown and help connect the downtown core to the Stadium District, officials say.” |
A first reading of the changes should go before the City Council on December 12th. Thoughts?
Link to The News Tribune
Commenting Is Closed
Comments are allowed for two weeks from the posted date. If you want to make a comment or reopen this discussion, please contact us with your request. Thank you for visiting.
So does anyone know if this is part of the LID? The city is taking $12+ million out of the Arterial Road Fund to do this project. Will the LID money be paying this back? $12+ million seems a bit steep for changing directions of 2 streets. I am guessing with that price work will be done to Ledger Square as well.?.?
1 | Posted by Jake | Nov 28, 12:42 PM
As I understand the LID work, it is for improvements along other sections of Broadway as well. For associated links, you can check out the Ordinance establishing the LID, improvement plans, and the website
The LID mentioned in the article was actually quite controversial as it was approved by the City Council even though it contradicted the City’s own policies. The City states that an LID must have at least 50% support from property owners (valuation based, frontage proportionate, etc.). The Hearing Examiner actually recommended against it since 54% of the owners filed a protest against the LID. In the end, the Council decided the public good outweighed the private opposition.
While the LID continues to move forward, I don’t see anything associated with the LID that specifically notes a change of St. Helens to a one-way street.
2 | Posted by DavidS | Nov 28, 01:48 PM
Regarding the proposal to make St. Helens one-way, I just don’t get it. Didn’t the City just go through a bunch of changes to make a number of downtown streets two-way? You’d think we learned our lesson.
Making Broadway two-way makes sense, particularly as the rest of Broadway is two-way, but making St. Helens one-way, because it “already feels like a one-way street” seems bizarre. It feels like a one-way forced yield street – much like many older roads throughout the City.
I can just see those people just looking to park on St. Helens (myself included) being forced to go through the nasty S. 9th & Broadway & St. Helens intersection to get there. Traffic moving two ways slows traffic down and causes most people not to use it as a thoroughfare – a good thing. (This is just another version of the parking issue – only with traffic engineering instead: designing for maximum expected capacity.)
3 | Posted by DavidS | Nov 28, 02:33 PM
I have witnessed and almost been in few fender benders on St. Helens while visiting City Hall. The angled parking and two-way traffic doesn’t work well there because it is such a narrow street. The move to a one-way street is a welcome one from me. However, I don’t understand making it a northbound street. The natural flow feels right when heading south- this would also keep traffic from getting backed up into the 9th & Broadway intersection.
Aren’t we all such wonderful urban planners?
4 | Posted by morgan | Nov 28, 03:10 PM
However, I don’t understand making it a northbound street. The natural flow feels right when heading south…
I actually think the natural flow – if the goal is to connect downtown to Stadium and the parking is realigned a bit – is upward. Anti-Clockwise motion around the city building. Works for me.
I actually have had my share of near fender benders on the road, but I’d wager that there are no fatalities on the road.
Keeping traffic slow through that section makes sense as there is a great deal of pedestrian activity – and more so with the new park. The only reason I can see to make it one-way is that Market can be difficult to turn onto from St. Helens – visibility & all that.
If this were part of the problem, I’d suggest northbound one-way through Opera Alley and southbound one-way between Market & Opera Alley. Keeping most of it a narrow two-way road limits traffic, speeds, & therefore major accidents.
Making people drive more carefully is a good thing. For another approach on this, see the Seattle P-I (AP) article on Naked Roads.
6 | Posted by DavidS | Nov 28, 04:12 PM
The debate whether to have one way roads or not is pretty lively and residents and planners alike always have their own opinion.
From what I have seen in other cities, one way roads are usully disfavored as they keep people out of an area.
With that said, St. Helens is so narrow, it might make sense there. Allowing Broadway to turn into a 2 lane road is probably a good idea as it is pretty wide. The present configuration makes it very hard for drivers from the north on Broadway to ever get to the southern portion. Yet, this section of Broadway is pretty quiet.
Overall, a good plan.
Just a reminder that the reason St. Helens is so narrow (& therefore the reason for the one-way suggestion) is because of the desire to provide more parking – angle-in v. parallel. The narrower road is the trade off for increased on-street parking.
In trying to provide the additional parking that so many demand, perhaps the City should consider changing more areas of downtown to angle in parking and reducing the number of lanes or making them one-way where space becomes limited. Of course this could become a little odd by increasing the supply of a good (parking) while decreasing people’s ability to get to it.
8 | Posted by DavidS | Nov 29, 11:59 AM
Commenting is closed for this article.
