MyWHaT

UPDATED 09/03: Additional contacts added below.

Peter’s guest post about how a community’s choice between one-way and two-way streets reflects its values is poignant. It’s not just on this BLOG that residents are talking about street design and use.  There are neighborhood traffic committees, both official, ad hoc and impromptu discussions happening on front porches, alleyways and sidewalks across the city. Presentations by a leading traffic engineer generated large audiences in middle of summer.

Street design is sexy!

The practice of building and maintaining streets at a minimal level of innovation is no longer acceptable. Streets and right-of-way reflect most of our public space and we’re beginning to realize that it’s insane to let a single-use run amok.

Focus on State Street: The Forgotten Child

As Peter mentioned in his post this morning, we have a focal point in the proposed West Front parking deck that requires innovation and strategic planning to manage the extra motorized traffic that it will create. Yes, the deck will grease the wheels of ‘development’ in that corridor, but will it be car focused or people focused development? State Street, as designed now, is primarily populated by businesses focused on serving people in cars. In between businesses are parking lots, both public and private, most of it very cheap. It’s not true that parking decks aren’t subsidized. The external costs to the surrounding neighborhoods are high.

An all out strategic plan for the entire city needs to go with any state of the art blue print and economic promises accompanying the West End parking deck. The first two-parking decks did not, it’s a requirement for the third downtown parking deck in a decade. We can begin by asking for elimination of the State Street one-way.

Supporting a Smart Choice

It’s my understanding that city staff isn’t necessarily opposed to this idea and they need to know that we, the citizens of the region, are aware of the issue and support, at the least, the idea, if not full implementation. Below is my draft of a letter to send to the city manager, his assistant and the city planner. I limited its scope and readers will certainly have additional recommendations. Share them with us here in the comment section and then share them with the city staff.

EMAIL CONTACTS: Please consider drafting your own (use mine as a model if you need to) and send it to: bbifoss@traversecitymi.gov • Ben Bifoss, city manager; mvitous@ci.traverse-city.mi.us • Makayla Vitous, assistant to cm; rsoyring@ci.traverse-city.mi.us • Russ Soyring, city planner.

Also, the staff and board chairperson of the Downtown Development Authority need to be included: bryan@downtowntc.com • Bryan Crough, E. D. & Community Development Director; rob@downtowntc.com • Rob Bacigalupi, Deputy Director; ncf1997@aol.com • Burian, Robert C., Chairperson.

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To City Manager R. Ben Bifoss and staff,

Lately, there has been a lot of attention focused on the design of our streets. Count me as one of the voices that believe that we can design them to better reflect the values of city residents. The neighborhoods have voiced their desire to live in a city that isn’t dominated by, and built solely for the convenience of the motorist. The list of prescriptions is lengthy, however, there is an opportunity now to fix one of the forgotten streets: State Street.

I support converting State Street from a one-way street back into a two-way street, including the short section of Pine Street.  The proposed West Front parking deck is an excellent impetus to kick-start this conversion. The parking deck will purposefully increase the amount of motorized traffic in our city. That needs countering with any and all professional recommendations possible to reduce the negative impacts that will occur. The parking deck doesn’t exist in a vacuum. There will be consequences for other modes of transportation, as well as on the economic vibrancy & livability of adjacent parts of the downtown  and in the neighborhoods. A strategic plan to deal with the impact needs to be more than simply converting a street back to a two-way, but it is a start to the conversation that must occur. (I’d be happy to sit with you to explore more changes and enhancements that need to occur, like a real reduction in surface parking, raising the price of street parking, and leading edge traffic calming and LID storm-water treatment.)

A walk along the route is revealing, the 3 decade long experiment of a one-way street on State Street has hindered economic activity, active transportation, transit and increased safety concerns downtown. One-way streets are known to create excessive speeds, unnecessary circling (which leads to congestion and reduced downtown desirability) and a decrease in walkability and bikability. Front Street is successful and our city would be much improved if we could emulate, improve and augment that on another street.

One-way streets have one purpose: moving cars quickly through a place at high speeds. On State Street, it is also built to provide parking for Front Street. We, as a community, have moved beyond this need. It no longer makes sense to maintain a 1960′s traffic experiment.

I would like to see the city move forward. Plans for the west end parking deck need to include a redesign of State St. back to a two-way street among other changes to our street network.

How can I help you make this conversion?

Sincerely,

Gary L Howe

Traverse City Michigan

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Peter’s posts are at:

• Part I: One-way & Two-way Streets Reflect a Community’s Priorities
• Part II: A One-Way Desert of Parking: State Street

This is the 2nd in a series of posts on one-ways. The others are Part I One-way & Two-way Streets Reflect a Community’s Priorities, part III One-Way to Decrease Residential Livability and the editor’s perspective Conversion of a City’s One-way Street back to a Two-Way Begins with an Ask.

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Is State St. Simply Front St.’s Parking Lot?

Guest Contributor: Peter Spaulding, part 2 of 3.

Part I: One-way & Two-way Streets Reflect a Community’s Priorities

What does the average citizen or visitor to Traverse City think of State Street?

When I look at it I see a waste of space, a desert of parking and a one-way street that serves only to provide smooth access to parking. Maybe others see it differently, but State Street is by no means an example of a street done right in Traverse City. Nice landscaping and street trees fail to make it a livable street; the few businesses that attempt to exist on or even between it and Front are fighting a difficult battle against terrible urban design. It is a boring, unpleasant and uninhabitable place for humans and businesses alike.

Wayfinding on State St. says a lot: Front St. District (photo GLHowe)

State Street’s woes begin with its subordinate relationship to Front Street. Whether actively decided upon or simply defaulted to, State Street became over time the automotive dumping ground for Front Street, a basically understandable and common outcome. The mall, the strip mall, and easy parking enthralled suburban consumers throughout the latter part of the last century; many well-meaning planners and downtown businesses blew their cities apart in unfortunate attempts to compete.

Now the time has come to take the necessary steps to realize State Street’s latent potential, and make it a testament to livability and activity in Traverse City instead of an embarrassment.

Dumping Ground for Parking

The most glaring problem with State Street is its overwhelming dedication to parking, but creating new public places for people to inhabit and enjoy is possible. Changing to a two-way orientation would immediately convert State Street from a temporary space to pass through into a place where people come together. The slowing of traffic and the visibility, walkability, and accessibility created would immediately make non-parking development on State Street more feasible and appealing.

Changes to State Street would also improve the functioning of present and future parking decks downtown. The Hardy Parking Deck would become more accessible, reduce circling traffic, and improve operation of Park Street’s intersections as the 101 N. Park building begins to draw visitors and residents. Without a State Street conversion, significant new development associated with a parking garage at Pine and Front could create significant problems. Problems at Front and Union, and along West Front to Division would limit accessibility to the deck, reduce the success of new businesses and create confusion and congestion that motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists would all be affected by.

Wide open. The trees do little to counter the real purpose of State St, as designed now: the storage of cars & moving motor vehicles through town, quickly (photo: GLHowe).

Move Away from One-way Streets, Beginning with State Street

While a Front Street conversion would be doable and ideal, an easy and necessary first step would be to convert State Street as soon as possible. We will have a prime opportunity as the DDA is set to erect their third parking deck in the near future. Leaving behind the one-way orientation of the past would help to eliminate the use of State Street as solely a conduit for the easy entrance and exit of Front Street traffic.

Present and future parking decks give us an opportunity we as a city can’t afford to miss; we need to make State Street a quality place. By reverting to two-way operation and developing significant new housing (including affordable housing), shops and restaurants on parking lots we no longer need, we will more fully use our investment in structured parking and increase investment in our city. Traverse City will still be a small town, it will just be a more compact and vibrant, and less dedicated to the automobile and its unfortunate storage requirements.

Let’s choose to enjoy State Street as a place, and take the steps necessary to make it happen in the next 5-10 years.

• Part I: One-way & Two-way Streets Reflect a Community’s Priorities

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Editor’s Note: Peter is hitting on something expressed before by others. Some have even expressed it on this BLOG in comments (thanks JRW).  I support the idea of tying a conversion of State St. back to a two-way street to the likely construction of the West Front Street parking deck. So far, I’ve heard no discussion of how the city plans to handle the increased motorized traffic through the city, as well as downtown, the third parking deck will create; I’ve tried.

I’ll post a follow-up on this, and a small call to action, later today.